Title: Hollow microellipsoid lithium silicate with mesoporosity and its formation mechanism

Authors: Jing Gao; Mingxing Tong; Wei Lei; Xuan Zhang; Guohua Li

Addresses: School of Chemical Engineering; State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry-Synthesis Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China ' School of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China ' School of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China ' School of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China ' School of Chemical Engineering; State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry-Synthesis Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, China

Abstract: Lithium silicate is an important sorbent to capture CO₂. Herein, hollow microellipsoids of lithium silicate with mesoporosity were prepared by a hydrothermal method using Na-montmorillonite and lithium hydrate as raw materials. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope analysis show that the crystal phase of the products is composed of lithium silicate and the particle morphology of the sample is hollow microellipsoid at around 600 nm. Furthermore, the wall of the microellipsoid is constituted of mesopores and nanoparticles with a size range within 20 to 40 nm. The specific area and aperture of the samples measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method is 32.3 m²•g⁻¹ and 17.1 nm, respectively. Finally, a formation mechanism of the hollow microellipsoid was proposed to guide further exploration.

Keywords: hollow microellipsoid; lithium silicate; mesoporosity; formation mechanism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2019.097237

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2019 Vol.15 No.1/2, pp.35 - 45

Received: 16 May 2017
Accepted: 26 Oct 2017
Published online: 07 Jan 2019 *

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