Sol-gel synthesis of lithium aluminate

LiAlO2 was prepared by two sol-gel methods using simultaneous hydrolysis of the reagents: aluminum sec-butoxide/lithium methoxide and aluminum sec-butoxide/LiOH. The resulting ceramic powders were compared with those prepared by two conventional methods (i.e., solid-state fusion and peroxide). The sol-gel method provided powders with a very high γ-LiAlO2 content after calcining at temperatures as low as 700 C when LiOH was used. The solids were characterized by AAS, DTA, TGA, XRD, and SEM