Mechanistic Insights into the Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate: The Role of Amino-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles.

This work reports the characterization and application of two promising nanocatalysts for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). To obtain these composite materials, magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 NP s ) were functionalized with two different amine derivative groups, tertiary amine (Fe 3 O 4 NP s -A1) and quaternary amine. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry provided mechanistic insights into the thermal decomposition of AP. Furthermore, tertiary and quaternary amine groups play a critical role, where the presence of an extra proton could favor an electron-proton transfer as the rate-determining step. Moreover, Fe 3 O 4 NP s -A1 causes a diminution of the high-temperature decomposition of AP positively to 335 °C, increasing the energy release by 278 J g -1 and consequently affording the lowest activation energy (102 kJ mol -1 ), indicating a low degree of thermal stability, and accelerating the thermal decomposition of AP.