Catalytic properties of CuO–Cr2O3–PbO ternary nanocomposites favorable for the pyrolysis of ammonium perchlorate

In this study, CuO–Cr 2 O 3 –PbO ternary nanocomposites (TNCs) with different atomic ratios of Cu:Cr:Pb (5:2:8, 5:4:6, 5:6:4, 5:8:2) were synthesized by means of efficient mechanical milling. As confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), uniform and impurity-free CuO–Cr 2 O 3 –PbO TNCs with an average grain size of 30 ​nm were successfully obtained. The catalytic properties of CuO–Cr 2 O 3 –PbO TNCs favorable for the pyrolysis of ammonium perchlorate (AP) were studied through thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that TNC-8, which has an atomic ratio of 5:8:2 (Cu:Cr:Pb), exhibited the highest catalytic activity for the pyrolysis of AP when the pyrolytic temperature of AP decreased from 441.3 ​°C to 360.2 ​°C and the Gibbs free energy ( Δ G ≠ $\Delta G^{\ne }$ ) decreased from 199.8 ​kJ·​mol −1 to 175.2 ​kJ·​mol −1 , as compared to CuO–Cr 2 O 3 –PbO nanocomposites with other atomic ratios.