Facile Mechanochemical Reduction and Lithium-Ion Doping of Transition-Metal Oxides

Transition-metal oxides (MOx) play essential roles in chemistry, catalysis, materials science and metallurgy. The MOx reduction and doping are two ubiquitous reactions in academic research and industrial manufacturing, but they are notoriously energy-demanding and require harsh conditions (high temperatures, long durations). In this work, facilitated by mechanochemical ball milling, we report a new route to conduct MOx reduction and doping at room temperature within 20 minutes enabled by mechanochemical ball milling and lithium metal.