Microflower-like Fe-Co-MOF with enhanced catalytic performance for decomposition of ammonium perchlorate and combustion of ammonium perchlorate-based composite propellants

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) serves as a crucial component in solid propellants. Enhancing its thermal decomposition with catalysts improves the combustion performance of solid propellants significantly. To enhance the catalytic performance of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on AP, this study controlled the morphology of MOFs by adding metal atoms, resulting in a Fe-Co-MOF catalyst with higher specific surface area and dual-metal synergistic effect. The catalytic effect of the catalyst on AP was investigated using DSC and TG-IR, followed by studying its influence on the combustion performance of AP-based composite propellants. The results show that the introduction of 5% Fe-Co-MOF reduced the decomposition temperature of AP to 298.6 °C, decreased the activation energy to 151.6 kJ mol-1, and increased the heat release by 110.6%. Additionally, the ignition delay of the propellant decreased by 71 ms, and the combustion rate increased by 43.8%. Mechanistic studies demonstrate that the abundant catalytic sites and oxygen vacancies of Fe-Co-MOF facilitate the charge transfer rate during the AP thermal decomposition process and promote the increase in AP heat release by suppressing the high-temperature conversion of N2O. This research paves the way for enhancing the application of MOF materials in AP-based solid propellants.