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931942

Sigma-Aldrich

Lithium carbonate

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battery grade, ≥99.9% trace metals basis

Synonym(s):

Lithium carbonate, Carbolithium, Carbonic acid lithium salt

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About This Item

Linear Formula:
Li2CO3
CAS Number:
Molecular Weight:
73.89
Beilstein:
3999191
MDL number:
UNSPSC Code:
12352302
NACRES:
NA.23

grade

battery grade

Quality Level

Assay

≥99.9% trace metals basis

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Design for Energy Efficiency
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mp

618 °C (lit.)

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SMILES string

[Li+].[Li+].[O-]C([O-])=O

InChI

1S/CH2O3.2Li/c2-1(3)4;;/h(H2,2,3,4);;/q;2*+1/p-2

InChI key

XGZVUEUWXADBQD-UHFFFAOYSA-L

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General description

Lithium carbonate is a white, crystalline salt that only exists in the anhydrous form. The salt is soluble in water, but poorly, and it is insoluble in alcohols and acetone. The solubility of lithium carbonate in water decreases with increasing temperature, which is unusual for a salt. Its solubility increases with partial pressure of carbon dioxide, which drives the equilibrium towards the more soluble metastable bicarbonate. These properties of its solubility are often exploited in its purification.
Lithium carbonate is an important industrial chemical, primarily as a precursor to lithium fluoride and lithium hydroxide, key precursors for compounds used in lithium-ion batteries. It is also used directly in ceramic glazes, glasses, and fireworks, among other industrial applications.
Lithium carbonate is produced in several ways, usually involving extracting lithium from the earth. One common extraction method involves mining and acid leaching from spodumene ores (lithium aluminum silicate). The ore is concentrated, baked at high temperature to change the crystal structure to a digestible phase, then digested with sulfuric acid to form a concentrate. Reacting the lithium sulfate concentrate with sodium carbonate forms the raw lithium carbonate that is further purified and dried. Another method involves processing and purifying underwater brine, which is pumped to the surface and dried by passive evaporation. The resulting salts are converted to lithium carbonate and subsequently purified.
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Application

Lithium carbonate is used in the preparation of many lithium compounds, most notably lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4). A common synthetic strategy for synthesizing lithium metal oxides involves thermally decomposing lithium carbonate, which serves effectively as a convenient, in-situ source of lithium oxide by cleanly evolving carbon dioxide. Typically, lithium carbonate is mixed or ball-milled with other metal carbonates, metal oxides, and phosphates. Then the mixture is heated at a low temperature (e.g. 350 °C) and subsequently at a higher temperature (e.g. 600 °C) to complete the reaction and improve the crystallinity of the product. Researchers have used this technique to prepare exciting new materials for lithium-ion batteries, like Li2Ru1-ySnyO3 as a cathode material and Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZ) as a solid-state electrolyte.

Packaging

100 g in poly bottle
500 g in poly bottle

Pictograms

Exclamation mark

Signal Word

Warning

Hazard Statements

Hazard Classifications

Acute Tox. 4 Oral - Eye Irrit. 2

Storage Class Code

13 - Non Combustible Solids

WGK

WGK 1

Flash Point(F)

Not applicable

Flash Point(C)

Not applicable


Certificates of Analysis (COA)

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Li7La3Zr2O12 Interface Modification for Li Dendrite Prevention
Tsai, C., Roddatis, V., et al.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8, 10617?10626-10617?10626 (2016)
Byoungwoo Kang et al.
Nature, 458(7235), 190-193 (2009-03-13)
The storage of electrical energy at high charge and discharge rate is an important technology in today's society, and can enable hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and provide back-up for wind and solar energy. It is typically believed that
M Sathiya et al.
Nature materials, 12(9), 827-835 (2013-07-16)
Li-ion batteries have contributed to the commercial success of portable electronics and may soon dominate the electric transportation market provided that major scientific advances including new materials and concepts are developed. Classical positive electrodes for Li-ion technology operate mainly through

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