Enhanced catalytic performance on the thermal decomposition of TKX-50 by Fe3O4 nanoparticles highly dispersed on rGO

Fe 3 O 4 /reduced graphene oxide (Fe 3 O 4 /rGO) nanocomposite has been successfully fabricated using a modified interface solvothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In the preparation procedure, graphene oxide was reduced and ultrafine Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (NPs) were uniformly loaded on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) carrier. Scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope images and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area revealed that the aggregation of Fe 3 O 4 NPs was greatly reduced by introducing rGO as a substrate. The average size of the Fe 3 O 4 NPs anchored on the graphene sheets was 100 nm, which is much smaller than 1-μm bare Fe 3 O 4 . The DSC results showed that Fe 3 O 4 /rGO nanocomposite reduces the first decomposition temperature of dihydroxylammonium 5,5′-bistetrazole-1,1′-diolate (TKX-50) by 44.9 °C and decreases the apparent activation energy of TKX-50 by 26.2 kJ mol −1 , which exhibits higher catalytic performance than its individual components and their physical mixture (hybrid). Hence, Fe 3 O 4 /rGO nanocomposite can be a promising additive for insensitive solid propellants based on TKX-50.