Water → Vanadic acid

First, an 8% by weight solution of sodium metavanadate (NaVO3) was prepared by dissolving an appropriate amount of NaVO3 powder in water. The NaVO3 and water were stirred for several hours until the NaVO3 powder was completely dissolved. 4700 grams of the sodium metavanadate solution was acidified using 3600 milliliters of Amberlite IR-120 ion exchange resin (commercially available from Fluka Chemical Corp., New York) to form a solution of vanadic acid having a pH less than 2. Immediately following acidification, approximately 4500 grams of the vanadic acid solution was partially neutralized with a 12% weight solution of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LiOH.H2O) in water. The resulting acidic lithium vanadate solution had a pH of about 5.30. The ratio of lithium to vanadium in the solution was measured using inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy and was found to be 0.53 to 1.00. The lithium vadadate solution had a solids content of 3% by weight. A 760 gram aliquot of the acidic lithium vanadate solution was dried by rotary vacuum evaporation at 40° C. to form an orange solid. The solid was dissolved in 380 grams of ethanol. Dissolution in ethanol was carried out by stirring at room temperature for several hours, followed by refluxing at the boiling point for at least an hour. Following refluxing, a small amount of undissolved solid remained and was allowed to settle, leaving a transparent orange vanadium oxide precursor solution.