In order to improve the cycle performance of a battery, the present disclosure provides a positive electrode material with an intrinsic specific surface area and an intrinsic pore size within the required ranges. The positive electrode material in accordance with the present disclosure has excellent particle strength, excellent Li ion transference ability, and good resistance to electrolyte erosion. When used in lithium batteries, it may impart the batteries with excellent rate performance and cycle performance. The present disclosure also relates to a method for preparing the positive electrode material.

In the first aspect, provided in the present disclosure is a positive electrode material having an intrinsic specific surface area of 5-13 m²/g.

As used in the present disclosure, the term “intrinsic specific surface area” refers to the BET specific surface area measured after the tested material undergoes an extreme water washing. In particular, the particles of the tested material are added to deionized water at a solid-liquid weight ratio of 1:40 at room temperature, and washed for 30 minutes at a stirring rate of 500 rpm/min. The particles of the tested material after water washing are subjected to BET specific surface area testing, to obtain their BET specific surface area, regarded as the “specific surface area after water washing”. The above water washing and BET specific surface area testing are repeated until adjacent two “specific surface areas after water washing” basically do not change (for example, the difference between the two is not more than 5%, preferably not more than 2%, more preferably not more than 1%, more preferably not more than 0.5%, most preferably not more than 0.1%). Then, the last measured “specific surface area after water washing” is the “intrinsic specific surface area” of the positive electrode material.