Toward a Promising Energetic Chitin Derivative: Design, Characteristics, and Thermo-Kinetic Behavior

In the pursuit of advancing energy-rich materials derived from polysaccharides, this study focuses on the synthesis and characterization of highly substituted nitrochitin (NCT) as a promising energetic polysaccharide. The structures of the synthesized energetic NCT and its precursor were thoroughly characterized and confirmed using infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Experimental results revealed that NCT possesses a nitrogen content of 13.63%, a density of 1.711 g/cm3, and a constant-volume energy of combustion of 12541 J/g, which are comparable to or slightly higher than those of conventional nitrocellulose. Furthermore, the thermal decomposition behavior of NCT was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, revealing that NCT undergoes two consecutive exothermic decomposition processes within the temperature ranges of 155–190 and 195–250 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C/min. Subsequent thermo-kinetic analysis, employing isoconversional kinetic approaches, demonstrated that the designed NCT exhibits promising reactivity characteristics, with average activation energies of around 175 and 166 kJ/mol for the first and second decomposition stages, respectively. Overall, these findings not only contribute to the advancement in polysaccharide-based energetic materials but also highlight the potential real-world applications of NCT in the fields of propulsion and explosives.