Applications
Lithium iodide is used as an electrolyte for high temperature batteries. It is also used for long life batteries as required, for example, by artificial pacemakers. The solid is used as a phosphor for neutron detection. It is also used, in a complex with Iodine, in the electrolyte of dye-sensitized solar cell.
In organic synthesis, LiI is useful for cleaving C-O bonds. For example it can be used to convert methyl esters to carboxylic acids:
- RCO2CH3 + LiI + H2O → RCO2H + LiOH + CH3I
Similar reactions apply to epoxides and aziridines.
Read more about this topic: Lithium Iodide