Preparation and characterization of cuprous iodide nanoparticles

A new technique for the preparation of CuI nanoparticles from CuSO4 and KI ethanol solutions has been developed. Preparation conditions were optimized through a series of experiments. Under these conditions, the yield of CuI reached 95.39%. The product was characterized and the reaction kinetics was studied. The results show that the product takes a roughly spherical shape with an average particle size of less then 50 nm. The activation energy of the formation of CuI is found to be E-a = 0.58 x 10(2) kJ/mol, and the preexponential factor in the Arrhenius equation is k(0) = 7.43 x 10(16) mol/(l s).