Lithium titanate

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Lithium titanate
Lithium titanate powder.jpg
Li2TiO3.png
__ Li +     __ Ti 4+     __ O 2−
Names
Other names
Lithium metatitanate
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ECHA InfoCard 100.031.586 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
PubChem CID
  • InChI=1S/2Li.3O.Ti/q2*+1;3*-2;+4
    Key: AXQWGBXVDWYWDE-UHFFFAOYSA-N
  • [Li+].[Li+].[O-2].[O-2].[O-2].[Ti+4]
Properties
Li2TiO3
Molar mass 109.76
AppearanceWhite powder [1]
Density 3.43 g/cm3 [2]
Melting point 1,533 °C (2,791 °F; 1,806 K) [1]
Structure [3]
Monoclinic, mS48, No. 15
C2/c
a = 0.505 nm, b = 0.876 nm, c = 0.968 nm
α = 90°°, β = 100°°, γ = 90°°
0.4217 nm3
8
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Lithium titanates are chemical compounds of lithium, titanium and oxygen. They are mixed oxides and belong to the titanates. The most important lithium titanates are:

Contents

Other lithium titanates, i.e. mixed oxides of the system Li2O–TiO2, are:

Lithium metatitanate

Lithium metatitanate is a compound with the chemical formula Li2TiO3. It is a white powder with a melting point of 1,533 °C (2,791 °F). [4] It is also used as an additive in porcelain enamels and ceramic insulating bodies based on titanates. It is frequently utilized as a flux due to its good stability. [6] In recent years, along with other lithium ceramics, metatitanate pebbles have been the subject of research efforts towards tritium breeding materials in nuclear fusion applications. [7]

Crystallization

The most stable lithium titanate phase is β-Li2TiO3 that belongs to the monoclinic system. [8] A high-temperature cubic phase exhibiting solid-solution type behavior is referred to as γ-Li2TiO3 and is known to form reversibly above temperatures in the range 1150-1250 °C. [9] A metastable cubic phase, isostructural with γ-Li2TiO3 is referred to as α-Li2TiO3; it is formed at low temperatures, and transforms to the more stable β-phase upon heating to 400 °C. [10]

Uses in sintering

The sintering process is taking a powder, putting it into a mold and heating it to below its melting point. Sintering is based on atomic diffusion, the atoms in the powder particle diffuse into surrounding particles eventually forming a solid or porous material.

It has been discovered that Li2TiO3 powders have a high purity and good sintering ability. [11]

Uses as a cathode

Molten carbonate fuel cells

Lithium titanate is used as a cathode in layer one of a double layer cathode for molten carbonate fuel cells. These fuel cells have two material layers, layer 1 and layer 2, which allow for the production of high power molten carbonate fuel cells that work more efficiently. [12]

Lithium-ion batteries

Li2TiO3 is used in the cathode of some lithium-ion batteries, along with an aqueous binder and a conducting agent. Li2TiO3 is used because it is capable of stabilizing the high capacity cathode conducting agents; LiMO2 (M=Fe, Mn, Cr, Ni). Li2TiO3 and the conduction agents (LiMO2) are layered in order to create the cathode material. These layers allow for the occurrence of lithium diffusion.

Lithium-titanate battery

The lithium-titanate battery is a rechargeable battery that is much faster to charge than other lithium-ion batteries. It differs from other lithium-ion batteries because it uses lithium-titanate on the anode surface rather than carbon. This is advantageous because it does not create a solid electrolyte interface layer, which acts as a barrier to the ingress and egress of Li-ion to and from the anode. This allows lithium-titanate batteries to be recharged more quickly and provide higher currents when necessary. A disadvantage of the lithium-titanate battery is a much lower capacity and voltage than the conventional lithium-ion battery. The lithium-titanate battery is currently being used in battery electric vehicles[ citation needed ] and other specialist applications.

Tritium breeding

Fusion reactions, such as those in the proposed ITER thermonuclear demonstrator reactor, are fueled by tritium and deuterium. Tritium resources are extremely limited in their availability, with total resources currently estimated at twenty kilograms. Lithium-containing ceramic pebbles can be used as solid breeder materials in a component known as a helium-cooled breeder blanket for the production of tritium. [13] The breeding blanket constitutes a key component of the ITER reactor design. In such reactor designs tritium is produced by neutrons leaving the plasma and interacting with lithium in the blanket. Li2TiO3 along with Li4SiO4 are attractive as tritium breeding materials because they exhibit high tritium release, low activation, and chemical stability. [7]

Synthesis of lithium-titanate breeder powder

Li2TiO3 powder is most commonly prepared by the mixing of lithium carbonate, Ti-nitrate solution, and citric acid followed by calcination, compaction, and sintering. The nanocrystalline material created is used as a breeder powder due to its high purity and activity. [14] [12] [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tritium</span> Isotope of hydrogen with two neutrons

Tritium or hydrogen-3 is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of ~12.3 years. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the common isotope hydrogen-1 (protium) contains one proton and zero neutrons, and that of a non-radioactive hydrogen-2 (deuterium) contains one proton and one neutron.

In chemistry, titanate usually refers to inorganic compounds composed of titanium oxides, or oxides containing the titanium element. Together with niobate, titanate salts form the Perovskite group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithium-ion battery</span> Rechargeable battery type

A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. In comparison with other commercial rechargeable batteries, Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, higher energy density, higher energy efficiency, a longer cycle life, and a longer calendar life. Also noteworthy is a dramatic improvement in lithium-ion battery properties after their market introduction in 1991: within the next 30 years, their volumetric energy density increased threefold while their cost dropped tenfold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strontium titanate</span> Chemical compound

Strontium titanate is an oxide of strontium and titanium with the chemical formula Sr Ti O3. At room temperature, it is a centrosymmetric paraelectric material with a perovskite structure. At low temperatures it approaches a ferroelectric phase transition with a very large dielectric constant ~104 but remains paraelectric down to the lowest temperatures measured as a result of quantum fluctuations, making it a quantum paraelectric. It was long thought to be a wholly artificial material, until 1982 when its natural counterpart—discovered in Siberia and named tausonite—was recognised by the IMA. Tausonite remains an extremely rare mineral in nature, occurring as very tiny crystals. Its most important application has been in its synthesized form wherein it is occasionally encountered as a diamond simulant, in precision optics, in varistors, and in advanced ceramics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barium titanate</span> Chemical compound

Barium titanate (BTO) is an inorganic compound with chemical formula BaTiO3. Barium titanate appears white as a powder and is transparent when prepared as large crystals. It is a ferroelectric, pyroelectric, and piezoelectric ceramic material that exhibits the photorefractive effect. It is used in capacitors, electromechanical transducers and nonlinear optics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithium cobalt oxide</span> Chemical compound

Lithium cobalt oxide, sometimes called lithium cobaltate or lithium cobaltite, is a chemical compound with formula LiCoO
2
. The cobalt atoms are formally in the +3 oxidation state, hence the IUPAC name lithium cobalt(III) oxide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium-ion battery</span> Type of rechargeable battery

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs, SIBs, or Na-ion batteries) are several types of rechargeable batteries, which use sodium ions (Na+) as its charge carriers. In some cases, its working principle and cell construction are similar to those of lithium-ion battery (LIB) types, but it replaces lithium with sodium as the intercalating ion. Sodium belongs to the same group in the periodic table as lithium and thus has similar chemical properties. Although, in some cases (such as aqueous Na-ion batteries) they are quite different from Li-ion batteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titanium disulfide</span> Inorganic chemical compound

Titanium disulfide is an inorganic compound with the formula TiS2. A golden yellow solid with high electrical conductivity, it belongs to a group of compounds called transition metal dichalcogenides, which consist of the stoichiometry ME2. TiS2 has been employed as a cathode material in rechargeable batteries.

A lithium ion manganese oxide battery (LMO) is a lithium-ion cell that uses manganese dioxide, MnO
2
, as the cathode material. They function through the same intercalation/de-intercalation mechanism as other commercialized secondary battery technologies, such as LiCoO
2
. Cathodes based on manganese-oxide components are earth-abundant, inexpensive, non-toxic, and provide better thermal stability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abnormal grain growth</span>

Abnormal or discontinuous grain growth, also referred to as exaggerated or secondary recrystallisation grain growth, is a grain growth phenomenon in which certain energetically favorable grains (crystallites) grow rapidly in a matrix of finer grains, resulting in a bimodal grain-size distribution.

Research in lithium-ion batteries has produced many proposed refinements of lithium-ion batteries. Areas of research interest have focused on improving energy density, safety, rate capability, cycle durability, flexibility, and cost.

Magnesium batteries are batteries that utilize magnesium cations as the active charge transporting agents in solution and often as the elemental anode of an electrochemical cell. Both non-rechargeable primary cell and rechargeable secondary cell chemistries have been investigated. Magnesium primary cell batteries have been commercialised and have found use as reserve and general use batteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed conductor</span>

Mixed conductors, also known as mixed ion-electron conductors(MIEC), are a single-phase material that has significant conduction ionically and electronically. Due to the mixed conduction, a formally neutral species can transport in a solid and therefore mass storage and redistribution are enabled. Mixed conductors are well known in conjugation with high-temperature superconductivity and are able to capacitate rapid solid-state reactions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithium iridate</span> Chemical compound

Lithium iridate, Li2IrO3, is a chemical compound of lithium, iridium and oxygen. It forms black crystals with three slightly different layered atomic structures, α, β, and sometimes γ. Lithium iridate exhibits metal-like, temperature-independent electrical conductivity, and changes its magnetic ordering from paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic upon cooling to 15 K.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithium platinate</span> Chemical compound

Lithium platinate, Li2PtO3, is a chemical compound of lithium, platinum and oxygen. It is a semiconductor with a layered honeycomb crystal structure and a band gap of 2.3 eV, and can be prepared by direct calcination of Pt metal and lithium carbonate at ca. 600 °C. Lithium platinate is a potential lithium-ion battery electrode material, though this application is hindered by the high costs of Pt, as compared to the cheaper Li2MnO3 alternative.

The tritium breeding blanket, is a key part of many proposed fusion reactor designs. It serves several purposes; primarily it is to produce further tritium fuel for the nuclear fusion reaction, which would otherwise be difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities, through the reaction of neutrons with lithium in the blanket. The blanket may also act as a cooling mechanism, absorbing the energy from the neutrons produced by the reaction between deuterium and tritium ("D-T"), and further serves as shielding, preventing the high-energy neutrons from escaping to the area outside the reactor and protecting the more radiation-susceptible portions, such as ohmic or superconducting magnets, from damage.

Anthony Roy West FRSE, FRSC, FInstP, FIMMM is a British chemist and materials scientist, and Professor of Electroceramics and Solid State Chemistry at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

Lithium orthosilicate is a compound with the chemical formula Li4SiO4. It is a white ceramic compound, which melts congruently at a temperature of 1,258 °C (2,296 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithium aluminium germanium phosphate</span> Chemical compound

Lithium aluminium germanium phosphate, typically known with the acronyms LAGP or LAGPO, is an inorganic ceramic solid material whose general formula is Li
1+x
Al
x
Ge
2-x
(PO
4
)
3
. LAGP belongs to the NASICON family of solid conductors and has been applied as a solid electrolyte in all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries. Typical values of ionic conductivity in LAGP at room temperature are in the range of 10–5 - 10–4 S/cm, even if the actual value of conductivity is strongly affected by stoichiometry, microstructure, and synthesis conditions. Compared to lithium aluminium titanium phosphate (LATP), which is another phosphate-based lithium solid conductor, the absence of titanium in LAGP improves its stability towards lithium metal. In addition, phosphate-based solid electrolytes have superior stability against moisture and oxygen compared to sulfide-based electrolytes like Li
10
GeP
2
S
12
(LGPS) and can be handled safely in air, thus simplifying the manufacture process. Since the best performances are encountered when the stoichiometric value of x is 0.5, the acronym LAGP usually indicates the particular composition of Li
1.5
Al
0.5
Ge
1.5
(PO
4
)
3
, which is also the typically used material in battery applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the lithium-ion battery</span> Overview of the events of the development of lithium-ion battery

This is a history of the lithium-ion battery.

References

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