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Lithium molybdate

Lithium molybdate is an inorgnaic compound with the chemical formula Li2MoO4. It is a white solid forming trigonal crystals.

Last revised
Jun 20, 2026
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Wikipedia ↗
Lithium molybdate
Names
Other names
  • Lithium molybdate(VI)
  • Dilithium molybdate
  • Dilithium dioxido(dioxo)molybdenum
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
ECHA InfoCard 100.033.601
EC Number
  • 236-977-7
  • InChI=1S/2Li.Mo.4O/q2*+1;;;;2*-1 checkY
    Key: NMHMDUCCVHOJQI-UHFFFAOYSA-N checkY
  • InChI=1/2Li.Mo.4O/q2*+1;;;;2*-1/r2Li.MoO4/c;;2-1(3,4)5/q2*+1;-2
    Key: NMHMDUCCVHOJQI-FFXFYZCHAF
  • [Li+].[Li+].[O-][Mo]([O-])(=O)=O
Properties
Li2MoO4
Molar mass 173.82 g/mol
Appearance white odorless powder
hygroscopic or transparent crystal
Density 3.07 g/cm3 (pure crystal), 2.66 g/cm3 (hydrated crystal)
Melting point 705 °C (1,301 °F; 978 K)
very soluble
Structure1
Trigonal
R3 (No. 146)
a = 1.432 nm, c = 0.956 nm
18 formula per cell
Tetrahedral
Hazards
GHS labelling:2
GHS07: Exclamation mark
Warning
H315, H319, H335
P261, P264, P271, P280, P302+P352, P304+P340, P305+P351+P338, P312, P321, P332+P313, P337+P313, P362, P403+P233, P405, P501
NFPA 704 (fire diamond)
NFPA 704 four-colored diamondHealth 3: Short exposure could cause serious temporary or residual injury. E.g. chlorine gasFlammability 0: Will not burn. E.g. waterInstability 1: Normally stable, but can become unstable at elevated temperatures and pressures. E.g. calciumSpecial hazards (white): no code
source ↗
3
0
1
Related compounds
Other cations
 sodium molybdate
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Lithium molybdate is an inorgnaic compound with the chemical formula Li2MoO4. It is a white solid forming trigonal crystals.3

Structure

At standard conditions it is isostructural to phenacite (Be2SiO4).14 Phrase transformations occur at elevated temperatures.4

Preparation

Lithium molybdate can be prepared by reacting lithium carbonate and molybdenum trioxide by a solid-state reaction route followed by recrystallization.1

A related lithium molybdenum oxide (Li2MoO2) with a hexagonal layered structure can be prepared by reacting Li2MoO4 with Mo metal at 900 °C.5 It is isomorphous with α-NaFeO2 (space group R3m, a = b = 2.8663 Å, c = 15.4743 Å, Z = 3).5

Uses

Lithium molybdate is used in petroleum cracking catalysts.3 In the oxidative conversion of n-hexane, the addition of molybdenum species to a Li/MgO catalyst results in the formation of lithium molybdate mixed oxide phases.6 This diminishes the formation of Li2CO3 in the catalyst, maintaining high surface area and stability.6

Lithium molybdate is used as corrosion inhibitor.7

Li2MoO4 crystals have been found applicable for cryogenic phonon-scintillation detectors, which are used to investigate some rare nuclear processes.8

The use of Li2MoO4 ceramics for antennas has been studied due to their low loss dielectric properties and the possibility to fabricate them by a room-temperature densification method instead of conventional sintering.9 It has been used with hollow glass microspheres (HGMS) to make low permittivity composite for lenses in lens antennas.10

References

References

  1. Barinova, Olga; Kirsanova, Svetlana; Sadovskiy, Andrey; Avetissov, Igor (2014-09-01). "Properties of Li2MoO4 single crystals grown by Czochralski technique". Journal of Crystal Growth. Proceedings of 17th International Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ICCGE-17). 401: 853–856. doi:10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2013.10.051. ISSN 0022-0248.
  2. "Lithium molybdate". pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
  3. Perry, Dale L. (2016-04-19). Handbook of Inorganic Compounds. CRC Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-4398-1462-8.
  4. Saraiva, G. D.; Paraguassu, W.; Freire, P. T. C.; Ramiro de Castro, A. J.; de Sousa, F. F.; Mendes Filho, J. (2017-07-05). "Temperature induced phase transformations on the Li2MoO4 system studied by Raman spectroscopy". Journal of Molecular Structure. 1139: 119–124. doi:10.1016/j.molstruc.2017.03.038. ISSN 0022-2860.
  5. Aleandri, Lorraine E.; McCarley, Robert E. (2002-05-01). "Hexagonal lithium molybdate, LiMoO2: a close-packed layered structure with infinite molybdenum-molybdenum-bonded sheets". Inorganic Chemistry. 27 (6): 1041–1044. doi:10.1021/ic00279a021. Retrieved 2026-01-25.
  6. Boyadjian, Cassia; Lefferts, Leon (2020-03-23). "Promoting Li/MgO Catalyst with Molybdenum Oxide for Oxidative Conversion of n-Hexane". Catalysts. 10 (3): 354. doi:10.3390/catal10030354. ISSN 2073-4344.
  7. Itoh, Masahiko; Midorikawa, Heihachiro; Izumiya, Masakiyo; Aizawa, Michihiko; Tanno, Kazuo (1990). "Corrosion Inhibition of Carbon Steel by Lithium Molybdate in Concentrated LiBr Solutions at Elevated Temperatures". Corrosion Engineering. 39 (6): 298–302. doi:10.3323/jcorr1974.39.6_298.
  8. Barinova, O. P.; Danevich, F. A.; Degoda, V. Ya.; Kirsanova, S. V.; Kudovbenko, V. M.; Pirro, S.; Tretyak, V. I. (2010-01-21). "First test of Li2MoO4 crystal as a cryogenic scintillating bolometer". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 613 (1): 54–57. Bibcode:2010NIMPA.613...54B. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2009.11.059.
  9. Kähäri, Hanna; Ramachandran, Prasadh; Juuti, Jari; Jantunen, Heli (2017). "Room-Temperature Densified Li2MoO4 Ceramic Patch Antenna and the Effect of Humidity". International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology. 14: 50–55. doi:10.1111/ijac.12615. ISSN 1744-7402.
  10. Kokkonen, Mikko; Nelo, Mikko; Chen, Jiangcheng; Myllymäki, Sami; Jantunen, Heli (2020). "Low Permittivity Environmentally Friendly Lenses for Ku Band". Progress in Electromagnetics Research Letters. 93: 1–7. doi:10.2528/pierl20060108. S2CID 221461236.