FIRST DIRECT SYNTHESIS BY HIGH-ENERGY BALL-MILLING OF A NEW LANTHANUMMOLYBDATE

High energy ball milling of mixtures of lanthanum and molybdenum oxide s led to the in situ formation of a series of lanthanum molybdates, wi th a La:Mo ratio of 1:1 and various Mo oxydation states, depending on the vial and reacting materials. Among these molybdates, one had only been prepared through fused salt electrolysis previously, and another was not known up to now. This illustrates the relevance of ball millin g as a potentially fruitful method to prepare new oxide compounds, The space group and cell parameters of the new lanthanum molybdate have b een determined using electron and X-ray diffraction. (C) 1997 Academic Press.