Zinc nitrate is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula . This colorless, crystalline salt is highly deliquescent. It is typically encountered as a hexahydrate . It is soluble in both water and alcohol.
Zinc nitrate is usually prepared by dissolving zinc metal, zinc oxide, or related materials in nitric acid:
These reactions are accompanied by the hydration of the zinc nitrate.
The anhydrous salt arises by the reaction of anhydrous zinc chloride with nitrogen dioxide:
Treatment of zinc nitrate with acetic anhydride gives zinc acetate.[1]
On heating, zinc nitrate undergoes thermal decomposition to form zinc oxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxygen:
Aqueous zinc nitrate contains aquo complexes .[2] and, thus, this reaction may be better written as the reaction of the aquated ion with hydroxide through donation of a proton, as follows.
Zinc nitrate has no large scale application but is used on a laboratory scale for the synthesis of coordination polymers.[3] Its controlled decomposition to zinc oxide has also been used for the generation of various ZnO based structures, including nanowires.[4]
It can be used as a mordant in dyeing. An example reaction gives a precipitate of zinc carbonate: