Facile synthesis of MXene-supported copper oxide nanocomposites for catalyzing the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract

MXene-supported CuO nanocomposites (MCNs) were synthesized through an ice-crystal templating method without using any chemical modifiers. Nano-sized CuO particles were uniformly and stably attached to the surface of MXene nanosheets. The catalysis of the MCNs in ammonium perchlorate (AP) decomposition was studied and the results indicated that the MCNs as catalysts (2 wt%) could significantly decrease the high temperature decomposition (HTD) temperature of AP from 425.0 °C (pure AP) to 324.9 °C (AP with MCNs-3) and increase the exothermic heat from 295.2 J g⁻¹ (pure AP) to 1272.9 J g⁻¹ (AP with MCNs-3). With the increase of the mass ratio, the decomposition temperature decreased at first and then increased. When the ratio of MCNs-3 was 4 wt%, the HTD temperature of AP was reduced by as much as 114.4 °C and the exothermic heat was remarkably increased to 1360.6 J g⁻¹. The high catalytic activity of MCNs-3 for AP thermal decomposition might be owing to the synergistic effect between MXene nanosheets and CuO nanoparticles. In other words, the results proved that the MXene in combination with CuO could be an effective way to enhance the catalytic performance of CuO in AP decomposition, which has potential application value in AP-based composite solid propellants.