Friedrich Wöhler
CrO2 was first prepared by Friedrich Wöhler by decomposition of chromyl chloride. Acicular chromium dioxide was first synthesized in 1956 by Norman L. Cox, a chemist at E.I. DuPont, by decomposing chromium trioxide in the presence of water at a temperature of 800 K and a pressure of 200 MPa. The balanced equation for the hydrothermal synthesis is: