Reaction-dominated combustion control of ammonium perchlorate-based composites by layered V2C MXene

Abstract

Reactive combustion catalysts (RCCs) are emerging materials for the combustion control of ammonium perchlorate (AP)-based propellants owing to their unique ability to control burning rates, high atomic utilization, and high-energy output. This paper reported that the combustion of AP-based propellants can be greatly enhanced by applying vanadium carbide (V2C) MXene as RCCs because of its combined advantages of unique reactivity and high chemical energy storage. The decomposition of AP in the presence of V2C MXene involves both direct reaction decomposition and catalytic decomposition. V2C MXene preferentially reacts with AP as fuel, releasing its chemical energy in the form of heat and forming VOx/C nanosheets. The VOx/C nanosheets formed in situ can serve as catalysts to promote thermal decomposition of the remaining AP. Unlike other combustion catalysts, the direct redox reaction between V2C MXene and AP dominates the decomposition of AP. Compared with other RCCs that mainly work through catalytic decomposition, V2C MXene exhibits a greatly increased burning rate, a shorter to-steady-state-combustion time, and greater energy release.