PREPARATION AND STRUCTURE OF ALKALI-METAL INTERCALATION COMPOUNDS

The preparation methods of intercalation compounds fall into four main groups: use of alkali metal solutions in liquid ammonia, organometallic reagents, electrochemical methods, and solid state processes. Each of these will be briefly described and a general comparison of the advantages and disadvantages will be made. Structural problems concern the positions occupied by the guest ions and their mobility from one site to one another in the host structure. The resulting ionic conductivity of the intercalation compounds depends on factors such as the ratio between available and occupied sites in the van der Waals gap, the ionicity of the bonds in the host structure, the site geometry, and the nature of the alkali metal. © 1979.