TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The core particles comprise natural graphite, artificial graphite, spherical graphite, or graphite globule, graphitic coke, meso-carbon microbeads, soft carbon, hard carbon, graphitic fibril, carbon nanofiber, carbon fiber, or graphite fiber. The core particles are graphitic fibrils obtained by splitting a micron-diameter carbon or graphite fiber, where the fibril has a diameter or thickness less than 5 mu m, or graphitic fibrils obtained by carbonizing and graphitizing an electron-spun polymer, organic, or pitch fiber, or spherical or spheroidal graphite, or meso-carbon microbeads or carbon or graphite particles obtained by hydrothermal synthesis. The satellite carbon or graphite particles are chosen from micron graphite, expanded graphite, nano graphene platelet, artificial graphite flakes, natural graphite flakes, highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite, graphitic coke, graphitized polymeric carbon, graphitized meso-phase pitch, graphite oxide, and graphite fluoride. At least one type of satellite carbon or graphite particles is expanded graphite particles or nano graphene platelets coated with a thin carbon layer, and at least one type of satellite carbon or graphite particles is expanded graphite particles or nano graphene platelets with a thickness of less than 1 mu m. The satellite carbon or graphite particles are randomly oriented with respect to one another. At least one type of satellite carbon or graphite particles has a lateral dimension of less than 1 mu m. At least one type of satellite carbon or graphite particles has a graphite crystal having a crystallographic c-axis dimension (Lc) of less than 100 nm, preferably less than 80 nm. At least one type of satellite particles is bonded to the core particles using amorphous carbon, polymeric carbon, pitch, and/or conductive organic or polymer, or electroconductive binder material chosen from coal tar pitch, petroleum pitch, meso-phase pitch, coke, conjugate chain polymer, and amorphous carbon obtained from chemical vapor deposition or pyrolysis of organic precursor. At least one type of satellite particles or core particles is coated with non-graphitic carbon. The graphite or combined graphite-carbon particulate is a non-porous solid particulate and has a tap density of 1.1 g/cm3 or more, preferably 1.2 g/cm3 or more. The degree of orientation of the particulate as defined by the ratio (I(110)/I(004)) is greater than 0.2, preferably greater than 0.5, where I(110) is X-ray diffraction peak intensity of (110) plane and I(004) is the X-ray diffraction peak intensity of (004) plane of graphite crystal. The core particles and/or satellite particles have a graphite crystal structure having an inter-planar spacing (d002) of at least 0.336 nm derived from (002) reflection peak in powder X-ray diffraction. The graphite or combined graphite-carbon particulate provides a lithium storage specific capacity of 350 mAh/g or more, preferably 355 mAh/g or more, which decreases by less than 15%, preferably less than 10%, when the charge or discharge rate is increased by 20 times. The graphite or combined graphite-carbon particulate provides an anode volumetric capacity density greater than 350 mAh/cm3, preferably greater than 400 mAh/cm3.