Microwave-assisted synthesis of graphitic carbon nitride/CuO nanocomposites and the enhancement of catalytic activities in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract

The microwave-assisted-graphitic carbon nitride/CuO (m-g-C3N4/CuO) nanocomposite was synthesized through microwave pretreatment and mixing-calcination. Compared with pure graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), microwave-assisted-graphitic carbon nitride (m-g-C3N4), CuO and g-C3N4/CuO, the m-g-C3N4/CuO nanocomposites could more effectively promote the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). It was found that upon the addition of m-g-C3N4/CuO nanoparticles, the HTD temperature of AP was reduced by 136 °C, which was much higher than that upon the addition of other nanocomposites. The overall heat releases were 310.5, 503.6, 688.7, 1054.5, 1726.2 and 2116.3 J·g−1 for pure AP and AP with the addition of g-C3N4, m-g-C3N4, CuO, g-C3N4/CuO and m-g-C3N4/CuO, respectively. The amount of released heat from the decomposition of AP mixed with m-g-C3N4/CuO was seven times higher than that from pure AP. Based on the above results, a catalytic mechanism was proposed to explain the role of m-g-C3N4/CuO in the thermal decomposition of AP. Using m-g-C3N4/CuO as catalyst for the decomposition of AP, the enhancement of catalytic effect was presumably due to the microwave synthesis and the synergistic effect between m-g-C3N4 and CuO. Therefore, it could be found that m-g-C3N4/CuO composite had a broad application prospects in the field of AP-based solid propellant.