A Green Method for Preparing CuCl Nanocrystal in Deep Eutectic Solvent

Cuprous chloride (CuCl) is extensively used as a catalyst in organic synthesis, and as a desulfurising, decolourising and deodorising agent in the petroleum industry. The traditional synthesis of CuCl nanocrystal powders, which has already caused a big problem in the environment, was via reducing copper(II) by using different additives and a quantity of concentrated acid. In this paper, we report an ecologically and environmental friendly route to prepare nanocrystalline CuCl powders, simply by using the CuCl2 and copper powders in a deep eutectic solvent (DES) at room temperature. The obtained CuCl nanocrystals were characterised by XRD, SEM and XPS techniques, and a possible formation mechanism was also proposed.