Precharged negative electrode material for secondary battery

A method of producing a negative electrode, the method comprising:

• comminuting Li-Group IVA alloy particles in a solvent to a submicron particle size range;
• exposing surfaces of the Li-Group IVA alloy particles to at least one monomer or polymer surface modifier present during the comminution process;
• the at least one surface modifier forming at least one continuous coating on at least one of the exposed surfaces of the Li-Group IVA alloy particles;
• before an end of comminuting and after exposing surfaces of the Li-Group IVA alloy particles to the at least one monomer or polymer surface modifier, adding a second at least one surface modifier to the solvent, wherein the second at least one surface modifier replaces or covalently bonds to the at least one surface modifier;
• removing the solvent;
• after removing the solvent, heating the surface-modified Li-Group IVA alloy particles at 200° C. to 1200° C. for 30 minutes to 24 hours;
• and
• adding the surface-modified Li-Group IVA alloy particles to a negative electrode material by a coating process,
• thereby yielding a particle size distribution of less than 600 nm full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a greater than 95% yield.