New synthesis method of advanced lithium titanate with Li4TiO4 additives for ITER-TBM

Lithium titanate (Li 2 TiO 3 ) is one of the most promising candidates among the proposed solid breeder materials for fusion reactors. Addition of H 2 to inert sweep gas has been proposed for enhancing the release of bred tritium from breeder material. However, the mass of Li 2 TiO 3 has been found to decrease with time in the hydrogen atmosphere. This mass change indicates that the oxygen content of the sample decreased, suggesting the change from Ti 4+ to Ti 3+ . Development of Li 2 TiO 3 with Li 4 TiO 4 additive is expected to be effective in control the mass change at the time of high temperature use. In the present paper, synthetic methods of advance lithium titanate (Li 2 TiO 3 added with Li 4 TiO 4 ) have been extensively investigated by solid state reaction. The crystal structure of the sample was analyzed by means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The molar ratios Li 2 O/TiO 2 of samples after the reaction were in good agreement with the values at the time of mixing LiOH·H 2 O and H 2 TiO 3 . The overall results suggest that the solid state reaction of LiOH·H 2 O and H 2 TiO 3 is one of the most appropriate synthesis methods for advanced lithium titanate with Li 4 TiO 4 in prospect of mass production technology for the test blanket module (TBM) of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).