water free excess lithium compound li 2 co 3 there is further provided a lithium ion battery comprising the positive electrode material having the significantly reduced amount of lioh and lihco 3 application_number US 67569503 A description to address the negative effects of moisture in lithium ion batteries the present invention provides a positive electrode material having low amounts of lioh and lihco 3 compounds a lithiated nickel based positive electrode material is used for the positive electrode material due to its high specific energy the main component of the positive electrode material may have the general formula lini x co y m z o 2 where m is a transition metal or the sum of transition metals different than ni and co advantageously the nickel fraction is greater than the cobalt fraction and the cobalt fraction may be 0 the transition metals other than ni and co are advantageously no greater than a u00bd fraction in other words x u2267 y z lt 0 5 and x y z 1 because the positive electrode material is generally prepared using an excess of lithium compounds than the stoichiometric amount to provide a highly ordered structure the excess of lithium may vary from 0 1 30 mole and typically is from 1 10 mole based on the total moles of transition metals the excess lithium forms a composite of lioh li 2 co 3 and lihco 3 with the ratios of these components varying depending on the synthesis and storage conditions the lioh and lihco 3 compounds contain a significant amount of chemically bound water which can be released during the cell life whereas li 2 co 3 is a water free compound thus in accordance with the present invention the positive electrode material is prepared and.