Facile preparation of nickel-iron bimetallic oxides doped with g-C3N4 and influence on thermal decomposition of hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20)

Energetic solid propellants are critical technologies for advancing strategic and tactical weaponry. To further develop the application of CL-20 to energetic solid propellants, it is necessary to explore more efficient catalysts to enhance their thermal decomposition characteristics. In this paper, three composites of nickel–iron layered double oxides doped with 0 wt%, 5 wt% and 20 wt% g-C 3 N 4 (NiFe-LDO/g-C 3 N 4 ) were synthesized by co-precipitation and heat treatment methods. These composites were characterized using Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-Ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). Three prepared composites were tested for catalytic pyrolysis performance of CL-20 using Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results show that NiFe-LDO/g-C 3 N 4 has an excellent layered structure and can significantly enhance the thermal decomposition performance of CL-20. Compared with 253.52 °C for raw CL-20, the thermal decomposition peak temperatures decreased to 246.61 °C, 245.64 °C and 244.08 °C after addition of the three catalysts, respectively. Additionally, the activation energies declined from 234.02 kJ·mol −1 to 192.55 kJ·mol −1 , 176.33 kJ·mol −1 and 160.78 kJ·mol −1 . Then, a potential catalytic mechanism is proposed. This study shows that NiFe-LDO/g-C 3 N 4 serves as a high-quality catalyst for the enhancement of CL-20 thermal decomposition performance, with further prospective applications in solid propellants.