Method development for determination of Li isotopic abundance using LIMS

Lithium being precious metal (natural isotopic composition of ⁶Li and ⁷Li is 7.59 & 92.41%, respectively) has wide area of applications with different isotopic enrichment. As for examples, enriched ⁶Li is used in Li-ion battery, whereas in thermal nuclear power plant (NPP) lithium hydroxide of 99.995% pure ⁷Li is used as a pH adjustment agent in coolant systems. Highly enriched ⁷Li is used in NPP because ⁶Li undergoes (n,α) reaction to produce highly radioactive tritium (³T). Hence, it is essential to determine the isotopic abundance of Li before its use. The present method using LIMS, can be an alternative technique to measure the isotopic abundance, which can overcome the shortcomings of conventional techniques, where direct solid as well as liquid sample can be analysed