SYNTHESIS OF FINE-PARTICLE
257
to 800°C. The reaction products obtained at 600 and mined by X-ray diffraction on a D8 Advance diffrac-
7
00°C consisted of phase-pure α-LiAlO ranging in tometer (CuK radiation). Intensity data were col-
2
α
2
specific surface area from 9 to 11 m /g. One drawback lected in the angular range 2θ = 10°–70° at a scan step
to this approach is that it is necessary to prehomoge- of 0.02° and counting time of 35 s per data point. In
nize the mixture of starting reagents in water, dry the situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurements
resultant material in an additional step, and then heat- were performed using an HTK 1200N chamber
treat it for a long time.
(Anton Paar, Austria) equipped with a corundum
holder. The chamber was heated in air from room tem-
perature to 100°C at a rate of 12°C/min, and then an
X-ray diffraction pattern was collected at this tem-
perature. Next, the temperature was raised to 200°C
and measurements were again made, etc. The percent-
age of X-ray amorphous aluminum hydroxide (A, %)
in the activated mixture was evaluated as A (%) =
Another way to accelerate the reaction between
gibbsite and lithium carbonate is to use preliminary
mechanical activation (MA) of a mixture of these
reagents in a planetary activator mill, followed by heat
treatment of the activation products in air [9, 11]. In
particular, activation of a mixture of gibbsite and lith-
ium carbonate in an AGO-2 planetary activator mill at
a centrifugal acceleration of 40g for several minutes
leads to an appreciable increase in the specific surface
area of the reactants, defect accumulation in the crys-
tal structure of these compounds, their micron-scale
mixing, and structural changes [11]. Subsequent heat
treatment of the mechanically activated mixture in air
for 4 h at a temperature of 700°C leads to the forma-
tion of a mixture consisting of γ-LiAlO and α-LiAlO
1
00(I – I )/I , where I is the integrated intensity of a
0 0 0
particular reflection from the gibbsite in the mixture
τ
before activation and I is the integrated intensity of
this reflection after activation of the mixture for time τ
τ
(
min). To follow the variation in the phase composi-
tion of the mechanically activated mixture during heat
treatment, we measured the integrated intensity of the
(
112) reflection from gibbsite and the (110) reflection
2
2
2
from lithium carbonate. For the forming reaction
products, we used the (020) reflection from boehmite,
with a specific surface area above 10 m /g. The per-
centage of γ-LiAlO in the mixture is directly propor-
2
(
003) reflection from α-LiAlO , and (101) reflection from
2
tional to the percentage of X-ray amorphous aluminum
hydroxide formed in the MA step [12]. After activation
for 1 min, the mixture consists of 16% X-ray amorphous
γ-LiAlO . Since the strongest reflections from γ-Al O and
2
2
3
χ-Al O , resulting from aluminum hydroxide decompo-
sition, overlap with reflections from α-LiAlO and lith-
2
3
aluminum hydroxide, content of α-LiAlO —80%,
2
2
ium carbonate, their integrated intensity was not mea-
γ-LiAlO —20% [11]. Previous results suggest that MA
2
sured.
of a mixture of gibbsite and lithium carbonate in a
planetary activator—without formation of a consider-
The mechanically activated mixture was heat-
able amount of X-ray amorphous aluminum hydrox- treated in air in an SNOL muffle furnace at a heating
ide—followed by heat treatment in air at a temperature rate of 10°C/min. After a desired temperature was
below the α-LiAlO → γ-LiAlO phase transition can reached, the mixture was held there for a preset time.
2
2
The quantitative composition of the lithium alumi-
nates was determined by fitting X-ray diffraction line
profiles by the Rietveld method with the Topas 4.2
program (Bruker AXS, Germany). The specific sur-
face area of the samples was determined from argon
desorption measurements with the use of a specific
surface standard.
be used to synthesize fine-particle α-LiAlO .
2
The purpose of this work was to optimize conditions
for the MA of a mixture of gibbsite and lithium carbonate
in an AGO-2 planetary activator (milling time and cen-
trifugal acceleration) and subsequent heat treatment in
air so as to obtain phase-pure α-LiAlO with characteris-
2
tics meeting requirements for matrix electrolyte materials
for molten carbonate fuel cells.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Influence of the milling time and centrifugal acceler-
ation during the MA of a mixture of gibbsite and lithium
EXPERIMENTAL
The starting chemicals used in our experiments carbonate on aluminum hydroxide amorphization. As
were analytical-grade Al(OH) (gibbsite) and reagent-
3
mentioned above, data available in the literature sug-
grade Li CO with specific surface areas of 0.2 and gest that a necessary condition for the synthesis of
2
3
2
1
m /g, respectively. A starting mixture was mechani- fine-particle α-LiAlO without considerable γ-LiAlO
2 2
cally activated in air in an AGO-2 laboratory planetary impurities (under a few percent) is that the MA of a
centrifugal mill in 100-mL steel vials at an acceleration mixture of gibbsite and lithium carbonate in a plane-
of 10g, 20g, or 40g (rotor rotation rate of 420, 590, or
30 rpm) for 1 to 5 min. For activation, we used
-mm-diameter steel balls. The powder-to-ball weight
tary activator be not accompanied by the formation of
a considerable amount of X-ray amorphous aluminum
hydroxide. Because of this, in the first step of this
study we examined the influence of the centrifugal
8
5
ratio was 1 : 20.
The phase composition of the mechanically acti- acceleration and milling time of a mixture of gibbsite
vated samples and heat treatment products was deter- and lithium carbonate on the percentage of X-ray
INORGANIC MATERIALS Vol. 55 No. 3 2019