Physicochemical stability under inert and reductive atmospheres of Li₂TiO₃ produced from Li₂CO₃ obtained from Argentinean brines

Highlights: • Li₂TiO₃ was produced by solution combustion and ball milling-thermal treatment methods. • Li₂CO₃ and TiO₂ as precursors posse availability, easy handling and low cost. • Monoclinic Li₂TiO₃ powders have nanometric mean grain size and open porosity. • As-prepared Li₂TiO₃ absorbs moisture and CO₂ from the air atmosphere. • Negligible reducibility was observed under H₂(5%)/He flow. - Abstract: Lithium metatitanate (Li₂TiO₃) is one of the most promising candidates as tritium breeder material in a fusion reactor due to its physical and chemical properties. In this paper, the syntheses of Li₂TiO₃ by combustion in solution (SCS) and solid-solid (SSS) were developed using as raw material Li₂CO₃ produced from Argentinean brines and TiO₂. In SCS, aqueous solution of Li₂CO₃ and TiO₂ as metal precursors, citric/tartaric acids as complexing agent/fuel and HNO₃ as oxidant was formed, heated to dryness and then self-combusted. The solid obtained was calcined at 550 °C for 12 h to obtain nanometric Li₂TiO₃ (monoclinic phase, 90%), with particle sizes 2CO₃-TiO₂ mixture was ball milled in air at room temperature and subsequently annealed. The effect of milling time and calcined temperature in the formation of Li₂TiO₃ was studied. High yields of Li₂TiO₃ (>90% and 99%) were obtained even at low heating temperatures (400 and 600 °C for 24 h, respectively). The synthesized powders show mean grain sizes in the nanometric range, particle sizes 2/Ar) were identified. The SSS and SCS methods developed using easy to handle and low-priced precursors constitute cost-attractive processes for large scale production of Li₂TiO₃ nanopowders.