An in situ chemical reaction approach to synthesize zinc picrate energetic thin film upon zinc oxide nanowires array

Abstract

Nanoenergetic materials are the key to great advances in microscale energy‐demanding systems as actuation part, igniter, propulsion unit, and power. An important challenge of energetic materials for microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is the compatibility of standard microsystem techniques with technology process employed in preparing energetic materials producing a large amount of gas and heat. Picric acid is known to react with metals to form highly unstable metallic picrate, which are often employed as explosive materials. In this study, films of zinc picrate were successfully produced with an ‘in‐situ chemical reaction’ method by introducing picric acid onto a ZnO nanowire array, which is fully compatible with technology for MEMS. The films were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, X‐ray diffraction, XPS, and SEM. The results demonstrate that picric acid reacted with ZnO to form zinc picrate thin film. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis measurements show that zinc picrate/ZnO films exhibit producing a large amount of gas, high energy output and lower ignition temperature, which will enhance the diversity of functions on MEMS devices. Therefore, this will open the door to integrate this traditional organic energetic material into microsystem, leading to new generation of MEMS devices. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.