Hydrothermal Synthesis of Lithium Meta Titanate Nanocrystallites

Lithium meta titanate (Li2TiO3) is one of the most promising tritium breeding candidate materials. In this study, the nanocrystallites lithium-titanate with hexagonal and cubic crystal structures were synthesized at low temperature, 200°C for 12 h by the hydrothermal method. The results showed that the monoclinic phase of Li2TiO3 nanostructure with high purity can be synthesized by further heat treatment of the hydrothermal synthesis powder above 700°C. In despite the heat treatment, electron microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the synthesized compounds had grain size smaller than 120 nm. Li2TiO3 was also prepared by a solid-state reaction in order to study the influence of the synthesis rout on the morphology and particle size.