Composition design and preparation of lithium lead titanate (Li2PbxTi1-xO3, 0.1 < x < 0.9): A novel tritium breeding ceramic

Abstract

In deuterium–tritium (D-T) fusion reactors, the design of tritium breeding materials plays very critical role in tritium self-sufficiency. Compared to materials like Li2O, Li2TiO3 has a weaker tritium breeding capability, because of the lower density of Li. For this reason, there is a need to further explore new lithium-containing ceramics. In this paper we have designed a new tritium-breeding Li2PbxTi1-xO3. Tritium production calculations are performed on a 2 m thickness spherical shells of Li2PbxTi1-xO3 with four types of 6Li abundance (7.5 %, 20 %, 50 %, 90 %) and six species of neutron source energy（0.025 eV, 1 MeV, 2.5 MeV, 2.7 MeV, 7.4 MeV and 14.1 MeV）located at the center. It is shown that such a modification may result in the tritium breeding ratio increase to 1.4 in the sphere. Based on simulations, the Li2Pb0.5Ti0.5O3 was synthesized via the sol–gel route, and the microscopic morphology of Li2Pb0.5Ti0.5O3 were briefly investigated. Upon analysis, it's found that lead is uniformly present in the ceramic material in the form of Li2PbO3. In comparison with Li2TiO3 ceramics, Li2PbxTi1-xO3 exhibits stronger tritium breeding capability.

Keywords

• Lithium lead titanate
• Tritium breeder
• Neutron multiplier
• Fusion blanket