Investigation of the catalytic activity of nano-sized CuO, Co3O4 and CuCo2O4 powders on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract In the present work, nano-sized CuO, Co 3 O 4 and CuCo 2 O 4 powders were prepared via different methods such as co-precipitation, thermal decomposition of oxalate precursor and sol–gel and their catalytic activities towards thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate were investigated using DSC technique. CuCo 2 O 4 showed better catalytic activity than others and the thermal decomposition temperature of ammonium perchlorate shift downward about 103 °C. The catalytic mechanism was also briefly discussed. TG-DSC, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM and BET techniques were applied for studying of thermal behavior, examination of catalytic activity, spectroscopic, structural, morphological characterization and determination of specific surface area of synthesized powders, respectively.