In-situ synthesis of MnCo2O4.5 nanosheets on reduced graphene oxide for a great promotion in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract

In this work, ternary transition metal oxides MnCo2O4.5 nanosheets was anchored on reduced graphene oxide (RGO/MnCo2O4.5 NSs) in an in-situ way for catalyzing ammonium perchlorate (AP). XRD, FT-IR, Raman, EDX, XPS, SEM, TEM, HR-TEM, SAED and nitrogen absorption-desorption techniques were applied to characterize the structure and morphology of the catalyst. The catalytic performances for the thermal decomposition of AP were investigated using DSC and TG. The results show that the MnCo2O4.5 nanosheets are vertically grown on RGO sheets to form a hierarchically porous structure, which is remarkably effective to avoid both the aggregation of MnCo2O4.5 NSs and the re-stacking of RGO. The introduction of RGO will significantly lead to an increase in conductivity and specific surface area. Just for that reason and the synergetic effect between RGO and MnCo2O4.5 NSs, the synthesized RGO/MnCo2O4.5 NSs composites gets the low-temperature decomposition peak of AP disappeared, the high-temperature decomposition temperature reduced by as high as 124.1 °C, the activation energy decreased from 221.04 to 129.85 kJ·mol−1, and the reaction rate increased incredibly up to 186.8 times when compared with corresponding data of the pure AP. Furthermore, the catalytic mechanism of the RGO/MnCo2O4.5 NSs has been discussed either based upon the electron-transfer theory.