Zinc chloride synthesis & solubility in methanol & other liquids
I thought I would try to make a little bit of ZnCl2 but I'm wondering if it might be similar to some other chlorides which don't dry very well to the
anhydrous state. When I had a lot of MgCl2 in solution and tried to dry it out, I found that my stove corroded terribly after a few hours in the oven
b/c it was giving off HCl or Cl2 gas I think.
My plan to make the ZnCl2 is to use some purified HCl (up to 30% - probably about 25-28%) and either some ZnO or zinc metal. I can also bubble some
HCl gas through the solution if that would be a better idea than making a higher concentration HCl or if I need more HCl. I plan to start with
distilled hardware grade HCl so it will all be a gas at some point except that which is below the azeotrope point (~20% I think).
A little while ago I thought I would try to dissolve a shinny penny (the zinc ones), cut it in half and allowed it to dissolve and I found the
solution turned slightly brown, like a cloud surrounding the penny. IDK if the copper could have caused this but I thought the zinc supposedly
dissolved the Zn out leaving a thin copper shell (which might be useful for some experiments - any ideas for use of high surface area copper like
this?)
I also thought this might be a good time to try to make some zinc peroxide (ZnO2) b/c it is made from ZnCl2 + H2O2 and I assume 35% is more than
strong enough to do this. IDK what good application are of ZnO2 but it seems to have some interesting uses in fireworks and as a sensitizer in
HE's/secondaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_peroxide
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