Facile preparation of CoFe-based oxide nanosheets derived from CoFe-layered double hydroxide for the thermal catalytic decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

In this work, CoFe-based oxide nanosheets were prepared by a facile method and its catalysis effects on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) were studied. CoFe-based oxide nanosheets were obtained from hydrothermal process and high-temperature treatment of CoFe-layered double hydroxide. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The thermal catalytic decomposition of AP with CoFe-based oxide nanosheets as catalysts was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and coupling Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The results showed that the CoFe-based oxide samples with the width size of 200–300 nm and the thickness size of ∼10 nm show the inherent catalytic ability. With 10 wt% of CoFe-based oxide nanosheets added, the decomposition temperature of AP was reduced by 127.5 °C from 431.0 °C to 303.5 °C. The apparent activation energy was decreased by 61.1 kJ/mol from 177.3 kJ/mol of raw AP to 116.2 kJ/mol of AP with 10 wt% of CoFe-based oxide nanosheets added. The thermal catalysis decomposition mechanism of AP with CoFe-based oxide nanosheet material promoting was proposed. This work offered a novel idea toward preparation and application of functional material layered double hydroxide in the field of energetic materials.