SYNTHESIS OF LITHIOPHORITE WITH SANDWICH LAYERED STRUCTURE BY HYDROTHERMAL SOFT CHEMICAL PROCESS

Lithiophorite with a sandwich layered structure which is constituted b y stacking MnO6 octahedral and LiAl2(OH)(6) octahedral sheets was prep ared from a layer manganese oxide by using hydrothermal soft chemical process. In the first step lithium-aluminum hydroxide complex ions mer e inserted into the interlayer space of the layer manganese oxide by a n ion-exchange reaction, and in the second step the ion-exchanged mang anese oxide was hydrothermally treated to polymerize the complex ions in the interlayer space to form the sandwich layered structure.