Amended Claims
We claim:
1. An electrode comprising:
an electrically conductive support; and
an active material layer provided on the electrically conductive support, containing an electrode active material and an electrical conductivity assistant, wherein:
the electrode active material includes at least one of a first polymer compound having a tetrachalcogenofulvalene structure in a repetition unit of a main chain, and a second polymer compound which is a copolymer between a first unit which has the tetrachalcogenofulvalene structure in a side chain and a second unit which does not have the tetrachalcogenofulvalene structure in the side chain; and
in the active material layer, the electrode active material covers at least a portion of a surface of the electrical conductivity assistant.
2. The electrode according to claim 1, wherein:
the tetrachalcogenofulvalene structure is represented by general
formula (A) below; and
in general formula (A), four X's are, independently, an oxygen atom,
a sulfur atom, a selenium atom or a tellurium atom; one or two
selected from Rl to R4 represents a bonding hand for a main chain or an adjacent
repetition unit of the first polymer compound or the second polymer compound;
the other three or two are, independently, at least one kind selected from the group
consisting of an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, an acyclic
unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a cyclic saturated hydrocarbon
group, a cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a phenyl group, a
hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, an amino group, a nitro group, a nitroso group or an alkylthio group; and the acyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, the acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, the cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group and the cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon
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Amended Claims
group each include at least one kind selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and a silicon atom, a phosphorus atom and a boron atom.

3. The electrode according to claim 1, wherein in the active material layer,
a weight percentage of the electrode active material included in the active material
layer is 30 wt% or more.
4. The electrode according to claim 1, wherein the electrical conductivity assistant is carbon black.
5. The electrode according to claim 4, wherein a specific surface of the electrical conductivity assistant is 800 m2/ g or more.
6. The electrode according to claim 3, wherein:
the electrically conductive support includes a surface layer having a surface in contact with the active material layer; and
a surface of the surface layer has surface irregularities.
7. The electrode according to claim 6, wherein the surface layer is an
electrolytically-etched aluminum layer.
8. The electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the
first polymer compound and the second polymer compound each have a degree of
polymerization of four or more.
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Amended Claims
9. The electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein:
the first polymer compound is represented by general formula (B) below, wherein in general formula (B), X is an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a selenium atom or a tellurium atom, R5 and R6 are, independently, at least
one selected from the group consisting of an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon
group, an acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a cyclic saturated hydrocarbon
group, a cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a phenyl group, a
hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, an amino group, a nitro group, a nitroso group or an alkylthio group;
the acyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, the acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, the cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group and the cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group each include at least one kind selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and a silicon atom,
R9 is an acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group or a cyclic
unsaturated hydrocarbon group, and includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and a silicon atom; or

the first polymer compound is a copolymer including a repetition unit represented by general formulae (C-1) and (C-2) below;
in general formulae (C-1) and (C-2), X is an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a selenium atom or a tellurium atom; R34 to R37 are, independently, at least one selected from the group consisting of an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, an acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, a cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a phenyl group, a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, an amino group, a nitro group, a
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Amended Claims
nitroso group or an alkylthio group; the acyclic saturated
hydrocarbon group, the acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, the cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group and the cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group each include at least one kind selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and a silicon atom; and the combination between R34 and R35 is different from the combination between R36 and R37; or

the first polymer compound is represented by general formula (D) below;
in general formula (D), X is an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a
selenium atom or a tellurium atom; R38 to R41 are, independently, at least one
selected from the group consisting of an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon group,
an acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group, a
cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group, a phenyl group, a hydrogen atom,
a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, an amino group, a nitro group,
a nitroso group or an alkylthio group; and the acyclic
saturated hydrocarbon group, the acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon
group, the cyclic saturated hydrocarbon group and the cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group each include at least one kind selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur
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Amended Claims
atom and a silicon atom;
R11 and R12 are, independently, an acyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group or a cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon group including at least one of an acetylene structure and a thiophene structure, and include at least one selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and a silicon atom.

10.
The electrode according to claim 9, wherein R9 includes at least one of an acetylene structure and a thiophene structure.
11. The electrode according to claim 10, wherein X is a sulfur element, and
R5 and R6 are each CH3, SC5H13, C10H21 or C5H5.
12. The electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein
the second polymer compound includes, in the second unit which does not have
the tetrachalcogenofulvalene structure in the side chain, at least one
selected from the group consisting of an ester group, an ether group, a carbonyl
group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a nitroxyl group, an alkyl group, a phenyl
group, an alkylthio group, a sulfone group and a sulfoxide group.
13. The electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein:
the second polymer compound has a structure represented by general
formula (E) below;
in general formula (E), R31 and R32 constitute a main chain of the
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Amended Claims
second polymer compound; R31 and R32 are trivalent residues containing, independently, at least one selected from the group consisting of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom and a sulfur atom; and at least one substituent selected from the group consisting of saturated aliphatic group and unsaturated aliphatic groups having a carbon number of 1 to 10 or at least one hydrogen atom;
L1 is an ester group, an ether group, a carbonyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a nitroxyl group, an alkyl group, a phenyl group, an alkylthio group, a sulfone group or a sulfoxide group that is bound to R31;
R33 is a divalent residue including at least one selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted alkylene, alkenylene, arylene, ester, amide, and ether having a carbon number of 1 to 4 that are bound to R32 and M1;
M1 is general formula (A), and is bound to R33 via the aforementioned bonding hand, where n and m are integers representing the numbers of times of repeating the monomer units; and
a constituent ratio m/n of the number m of the second units with
respect to the number n of the first units of the second polymer
compound is greater than zero and five or less.

14. The electrode according to claim 13, wherein L1 includes at least one selected from an ester group, an ether group and a carbonyl group.
15. An electricity storage device comprising:
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Amended Claims
a positive electrode which is the electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 14;
a negative electrode containing a negative-electrode active material capable of occluding and releasing lithium ions; and
an electrolyte solution containing a salt of lithium ions and anions, the electrolyte solution filling between the positive electrode and the negative electrode.
16. A method for manufacturing the electrode according to any one of
claims 1 to 14, comprising the steps of:
preparing a mixture of an aprotic solvent with an electrode active material dissolved therein, and an electrical conductivity assistant; and removing the aprotic solvent from the mixture.
Dated this 15 day of June 2012.
PANASONIC CORPORATION
By their Agent & Attorney -Digitally Signed-(Karuna Goleria) Reg No.IN/PA -584 Of De PENNING & De PENNING
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