Three-dimensional hierarchical 2,2,4,4,6,6-hexanitrostilbene crystalline clusters prepared by controllable supramolecular assembly and deaggregation process

Abstract

A facile chemical template method named supramolecular assembly and deaggregation was used to prepare three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical 2,2,4,4,6,6-hexanitrostilbene (HNS) crystalline clusters. Dioxane was used as the guest molecule for guidance in the assembly process. The 3D hierarchical HNS crystalline clusters possess multiple distributions of particle size and pore size, which results in significantly different safety performance compared to raw HNS. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of these unique structures was proposed based on the experimental results. This work provides a convenient method to prepare hierarchical energetic materials with porous micro/nano structures and other hierarchical functional materials such as catalysts, adsorbents, micro reactors and sensors.