Green synthesis of flower-like CuI microstructures composed of trigonal nanostructures using pomegranate juice

Abstract In this work, pomegranate juice was used not only as reductant, but also as capping agent for self-assembly of trigonal nanostructures to form flower-like CuI microstructures. Pomegranate juice was applied as reductant because of the presence of anthocyanin molecules in its ingredients. Besides pomegranate juice, Cu(NO 3 ) 2 .3H 2 O and LiI were used as copper and iodide sources for the preparation of CuI nanostructures via a simple precipitation method at ambient conditions. By using different amounts of pomegranate juice, various morphologies of CuI have been obtained. It was found that uniform flower-like CuI microstructures composed of trigonal nanostructures have been successfully produced using 8 mL of pomegranate juice.