Nickel composite hydroxide and method for producing the same, positive electrode active material and method for producing the same as well as nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell

A nickel composite hydroxide, comprising:

• a composition represented by Ni1-x-y-z CoxMnyMz (OH)2+A (where 0≦x≦0.35, 0≦y≦0.35, 0≦z≦0.1, 0<x+y, 0<x+y+z≦0.7, 0≦A≦0.5, with M being at least one kind of additive element selected from the group consisting of V, Mg, Al, Ti, Mo, Nb, Zr and W),
• wherein the nickel composite hydroxide is composed of secondary particles in which spherical or lump-shaped nickel composite hydroxide particles, which are formed by a plurality of primary particles aggregated with one after another, are coupled with one after another in two dimensional directions,
• wherein the secondary particles have a volume average particle size (Mv) of 4 to 20 μm calculated by a laser diffraction/scattering method and an aspect ratio (Mv/L) of the volume average particle size relative to the width (L) of the secondary particles in a direction perpendicular to the coupling direction of the nickel composite hydroxide particles in a range from 3 to 20, and
• wherein the secondary particles have a high concentration layer containing cobalt and/or manganese inside each of the secondary particles.