Thermal Decomposition Mechanism of Cuprous Thiocyanate in the Presence of Synthetic Air and Nitrogen Gas

Cuprous thiocyanate (CuSCN) is a substance that is being studied for use as a solar cell modifier at present. However, this use is not the only one, and CuSCN could also be used in the field of energetic materials. The new potential use could be in the form of fuel in ecologically benign pyrotechnic compositions or as a burn rate modifier. For this reason, it is necessary to determine the thermal behavior of the substance and the individual steps of thermal decomposition, which can describe the reaction of CuSCN. Knowledge of the current literature does not adequately describe the decomposition mechanism of the CuSCN. This paper presents the mechanism of the decomposition process of the CuSCN in the presence of synthetic air and nitrogen gas using thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), mass spectroscopy (MS), and powder X-ray diffraction (XPRD) techniques. On the basis of the results of thermal decomposition experiments, cyanogen was identified as the key substance of the decomposition reaction. The corrected decomposition scheme was suggested as the result of this work.