Cobalt abundance but natural compounds of cobalt are numerous and all amounts of cobalt compounds are found in most rocks, soil, plants, and animals. In nature, cobalt is frequently associated with nickel. Both are characteristic components of meteoric iron, though cobalt is much less abundant in iron meteorites than nickel. As with nickel, cobalt in meteoric iron alloys may have been well enough protected from oxygen and moisture to remain as the free (but alloyed) metal, though neither element is seen in that form in the ancient terrestrial crust. Cobalt in compound form occurs in copper and nickel minerals. It is
Lithium cobalt oxide Lithium cobalt oxide Lithium cobalt oxide, sometimes called lithium cobaltate or lithium cobaltite, is a chemical compound with formula . The cobalt atoms are formally in the +3 oxidation state, hence the IUPAC name lithium cobalt(III) oxide. Lithium cobalt oxide is a dark blue or bluish-gray crystalline solid, and is commonly used in the positive electrodes of lithium-ion batteries. The structure of has been studied with numerous techniques including x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, neutron powder diffraction, and EXAFS. The solid consists of layers of monovalent lithium cations () that lie between extended anionic sheets of cobalt and oxygen atoms, arranged