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 (Fe3O4 NPs) were functionalized with two different amine derivative groups, tertiary amine (Fe3O4 NPs-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, Fe3O4 NPs-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.