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Lithium silicate belongs to silicate materials, which mainly refer to compounds composed of Si, O, and other elements such as Al, Ca, K, Na, Li, etc. The silicate structure generally contains silicon oxygen tetrahedral structures, which are connected in different ways (such as single chain, double chain, framework or island) to form silicate substances with different structures. Lithium silicate is a series of compounds generated by the reaction of metallic lithium and silicic acid, mainly divided into lithium monosilicate (Li8SiO6 Li4SiO4、Li2SiO3）、 Lithium disilicate (Li6Si2O7, Li2Si2O5) and lithium pentasilicate (Li2Si5O11). In addition, the aqueous solution of lithium silicate is also called lithium water glass, also known as lithium silicate. Lithium silicate materials have many excellent properties, such as good tritium solubility, mechanical properties, physical and chemical stability, and compatibility with structural materials, making them widely used. Like; As a coating base material, it can be used for ship, offshore engineering, and building material coatings, etc; As a surface treatment agent, it can be used for light preservation of handicrafts, decorations, radios, plastic films, etc; As an adhesive, it can be used for asbestos, glass, TV phosphors, wood, and car clutches. Of particular note is that in recent years, lithium silicate materials have potential applications in new energy, environmental protection, and other fields, such as lithium-ion battery materials, CO2 adsorption materials, and nuclear value-added reactor materials, which have received more widespread attention. Among these new applications, Li4SiO4 and Li2SiO3 are the two most studied. At present, the United States and Japan are in a good international position in the research and manufacturing technology of lithium silicate, while China's work in this area is just beginning.

Sol gel method is a common method for liquid phase synthesis of powders. This method has many advantages, such as the homogeneous mixing of reactants at the molecular level, low reaction temperature, and easy reaction. Therefore, it is often used in the preparation of lithium silicate powder. People have found that selecting appropriate raw materials is crucial in the preparation of lithium silicate powder. Lithium silicate was synthesized by sol-gel method. Lithium silicate powder was synthesized using ethyl orthosilicate as the silicon source and lithium hydroxide and lithium ethoxide as the lithium sources with different Li/Si ratios. The results showed that when lithium ethoxide was used as the lithium source and Li/Si=2, the product contained 94% Li2SiO3 and 6% Li2Si2O5 phase; When lithium hydroxide is used as the lithium source, only 55% of Li2SiO3 is present in the product at Li/Si=2, and pure Li2SiO3 phase is not obtained. It was found that pure Li2SiO3, Li2Si2O5 and Li4SiO4 powders were synthesized by sol gel method from lithium carbonate and TEOS at 650~700 ℃. Using TEOS and lithium alcohol as raw materials and alcohol water mixture as solvent, Li2SiO3 powder with pure particle size of only 5nm~10nm was synthesized by sol-gel method at 40 ℃. The results showed that the thermal stability of the obtained nano Li2SiO3 powder was good at 40 ℃, and no phase transition occurred even at 850 ℃.

Although lithium silicate has been widely used in traditional fields, the preparation technology and performance research of lithium silicate are still very limited, far from meeting the needs of new energy, environmental protection and other aspects. With the increasing attention to "century problems" such as energy crisis and greenhouse effect, lithium silicate materials will have significant development in the coming years.