An innovative process for synthesis of superfine nanostructured Li2TiO3 tritium breeder ceramic pebbles via TBOT hydrolysis – solvothermal method. Issue 5 (1st April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Hailiang; Yang, Mao; Gong, Yichao; Chen, Ruichong; Guo, Hao; Zeng, Yuanyuan; Liao, Zhijun; Qi, Jianqi; Shi, Qiwu; Lu, Tiecheng
• Is Part Of: Ceramics international. Volume 45:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 5189
• Page End: 5194
• Publication Date: 2019-04-01
• Subjects: Tritium breeder -- Nanostructured Li2TiO3 -- TBOT -- Solvothermal method; Ceramics -- Periodicals; Céramique industrielle -- Périodiques; Ceramics; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2018.11.134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0272-8842

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, a method combining hydrolysis of tetrabutyl orthotitanate (TBOT) and solvothermal reaction was first used to fabricate nanostructured Li2 TiO3 tritium breeder ceramic pebbles. Initially, superfine nanostructured Li2 TiO3 powders were synthesized with average particle size of about 10 nm, according to TEM. The surface area of precursor particles synthesized via this method was found to be 115.85 m 2 /g by BET analysis, which is much larger than that of the product obtained using traditional methods. The results showed that precursor particles had high sintering activity. XRD pattern revealed that the phase transition temperature for monoclinic phase Li2 TiO3 prepared by this method was nearly 450 °C, which was the lowest phase transition temperature reported among all wet chemical methods to date. Subsequently, investigation of ceramic sintering demonstrated that Li2 TiO3 ceramic pebbles with desired nano-crystalline sizes (27.98 ~ 55.03 nm) were obtained by sintering at 500 ~ 600 °C for 4 h. The possible mechanisms were proposed based on the reaction processes of TBOT hydrolysis, solvothermal reaction and sintering.