NICKEL BASED COMPOUND POSITIVE ELECTRODE MATERIAL PRIMARY CELL

According to the invention, a high capacity alkali primary battery excellent in high rate characteristics is obtained using a positive electrode active substance, wherein the particles of the nickel oxyhydroxide base compound as the positive electrode active substance has a surface coated with a higher oxide of cobalt and comprises zinc and cobalt separately or an eutectic crystal with zinc and cobalt, and a half-width of an X-ray diffraction peak at a diffraction angle at around 18 DEG in an X-ray diffraction pattern of 0.4 to 0.48 obtained by using a CuK alpha line as an X-ray source. A further excellent battery is obtained by using zinc containing a powder with a particle diameter of 75 mu m or less in the range of 10% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less.