Defective-activated-carbon-encapsulated Co as a super reactive catalyst for combustion of ammonium perchlorate

Defective-activated-carbon can serve as both fuel and combustion catalyst for ammonium perchlorate (AP) based energetic composites owing to the promoted reactivity and catalytic activity. However, the poor ability of carbon materials in accelerating the electron transfer in the secondary reaction of HClO4 decomposition hinders their applications in composite solid propellant. Herein, a hybrid with metallic Co nanoparticles encapsulated in N -doped defective activated carbon (denoted as DAC/Co) is reported to achieve bi-functional additives with simultaneously high catalytic activity and high reactivity. The DAC with high defect can not only serves as fuel due to its high reactivity, but also favors the proton transfer in the initial decomposition of AP owing to its rich defects. Moreover, the combination of the Co nanoparticles and DAC is also beneficial to electrons transfer in the secondary decomposition of AP, leading to a high catalytic activity for thermal decomposition of AP. As a result, the AP/DAC/Co-20 composite possesses a greatly enhanced combustion performance, with the combustion duration shorten by 107 ms compared to that of AP/DAC (348 ms) and pressurization rate increase by 9.8%. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of DAC/Co hybrid for practical applications in AP based solid propellant.

Automated summary

This work reports a hybrid with metallic Co nanoparticles encapsulated in N-doped defective activated carbon (DAC/Co) as a bi-functional additive with high catalytic activity and high reactivity. The combination of Co nanoparticles and DAC enhances the combustion performance of AP, leading to a shortened combustion duration and increased pressurization rate.