Abstract Lithium titanate is one of the most promising candidates among advanced tritium breeders for fusion reactors. However, the tritium breeding ratio (TBR) of Li2TiO3 is smaller than that of Li2O or Li8TiO6, etc., due to its lower Li density. Therefore, new Li-containing ceramics with both high stability and high Li density need to be further explored. In this work, the Li2+xTiO3 powder with high Li content was prepared by the sol-gel method, and the pebbles were fabricated by a wet forming process. The effect of excess lithium on the crystal structure and performance of Li2+xTiO3 were systematically investigated. The synthesis temperature of Li2+xTiO3 powder with a well-developed crystal structure prepared by this method was 500 °C, and all the diffraction patterns of sintered Li2+xTiO3(x?=?0–0.4) powder were the same as those of β-Li2TiO3 phase and no second phase peaks are observed. These results demonstrated that Li2+xTiO3 powder was a solid solution with high Li content. The particle size distribution of Li2+xTiO3 powder was about 40–90?nm. As x?=?0.3, the Li content is stable both in Li2+xTiO3 powder and pebbles, and the Li2.3TiO3 pebbles presented a very high relative density of 87%, a small grain size of 1.8?μm, and good sphericity of 0.98, respectively. Especially, the crushing load reached 50?N. Thus, the Li2.3TiO3 solid solution pebble is an important candidate breeder material for advanced tritium breeders.Kindly check and confirm street information is correctly identified for Affiliation 1.The street? information is correctly identified for Affiliation 1.We are very grateful for your additions.
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