Catalytic Activity of CuO Nanoparticles on Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

This research is on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate activated by addition of commercial CuO nanoparticles. CuO nanoparticles were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transition Electron Microscope (TEM). TEM image shows that the CuO nanoparticles have a nearly spherical morphology. The catalytic activities of the CuO nanoparticles on the thermal decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) were evaluated by Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (TGA/DSC), which results show that, in presence of 2 and 5 wt% of CuO nanoparticles, the thermal decomposition temperature of AP decreased by 61.11 and 72.59 °C, respectively. Also, results imply that the heat decomposition of AP was increased by 528.51 and 535.11 J/g in the presence of 2 and 5 wt% of CuO nanoparticles, respectively. TGA data was used to evaluate kinetic parameters of samples by model fitting method and values of A, Ea, ∆G≠, ∆H≠, and ∆S≠ were obtained.