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

Abstract

In this study, CuO–Cr2O3–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–Cr2O3–PbO TNCs with an average grain size of 30 ​nm were successfully obtained. The catalytic properties of CuO–Cr2O3–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 (ΔG≠) decreased from 199.8 ​kJ·​mol−1 to 175.2 ​kJ·​mol−1, as compared to CuO–Cr2O3–PbO nanocomposites with other atomic ratios.

Keywords

• Ternary nanocomposite
• Catalytic
• Pyrolysis
• AP
• Mechanical milling