Preparation, Characterization, and Melting Point of High‐Purity Lithium Oxide

High‐purity lithium oxide was synthesized by thermal decomposition of the peroxide at temperatures up to 1070 K under dynamic vacuum. Analyses of typical preparations gave carbonate 0.01 to 0.02%, hydroxide 0.0 to 0.2%, sodium 0.002%, manganese 0.0004%, and lithium oxide 99.8 to 100.0%. The corrected melting point was measured as 1711±5 K based on the thermal arrest observed when molten specimens were cooled.