Fabrication of nanostructured Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic pebbles as tritium breeders using powder particles synthesised via a CTAB-assisted method

Abstract Nanostructured Li 2 TiO 3 ceramics which may have effective thermal conductivity, excellent tritium release behaviour and good irradiation resistance are regarded as a promising solid tritium breeding material for the fusion reactor blanket of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). However, due to the limitations of the preparation technology, reports concerning Li 2 TiO 3 nanoceramics have been rare. In this paper, uniform nano-Li 2 TiO 3 powder particles which were essential to obtain nanostructured Li 2 TiO 3 ceramics pebbles were synthesised via a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-assisted hydrothermal method, and then rare, homogeneous nanostructured Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic pebbles were fabricated with the as-prepared powder particles. The mechanisms by which CTAB can reduce particle agglomeration and be of assistance in achieving a nanostructured Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic were also investigated. In addition, systematic experiments on the relationship between the added amount of CTAB and the mechanical properties of the Li 2 TiO 3 ceramic structure were also carried out. The results revealed that the desired Li 2 TiO 3 nanoceramic could be fabricated when 3% CTAB was introduced, as the Li 2 TiO 3 pebbles obtained had a small grain size (90 nm), high relative density (89.71%T.D.) and crush load (99.93 N), which were expected to show favourable potential as a promising tritium breeder material in the fusion reactor blanket.