Direct Growth of CuO Nanorods on Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Synergistic Effect on Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate
Linghua Tan,
Jianhua Xu,
Shiying Li,
Dongnan Li,
Yuming Dai,
Bo Kou,
Yu Chen
Affiliations
Linghua Tan
National Special Superfine Power Engineering Research Center, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Jianhua Xu
School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Shiying Li
School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Dongnan Li
National Special Superfine Power Engineering Research Center, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Yuming Dai
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Structural Materials and Application Technology, School of Materials Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China
Bo Kou
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Structural Materials and Application Technology, School of Materials Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China
Yu Chen
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Structural Materials and Application Technology, School of Materials Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China
Novel graphitic carbon nitride/CuO (g-C3N4/CuO) nanocomposite was synthesized through a facile precipitation method. Due to the strong ion-dipole interaction between copper ions and nitrogen atoms of g-C3N4, CuO nanorods (length 200–300 nm, diameter 5–10 nm) were directly grown on g-C3N4, forming a g-C3N4/CuO nanocomposite, which was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Finally, thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) in the absence and presence of the prepared g-C3N4/CuO nanocomposite was examined by differential thermal analysis (DTA), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The g-C3N4/CuO nanocomposite showed promising catalytic effects for the thermal decomposition of AP. Upon addition of 2 wt % nanocomposite with the best catalytic performance (g-C3N4/20 wt % CuO), the decomposition temperature of AP was decreased by up to 105.5 °C and only one decomposition step was found instead of the two steps commonly reported in other examples, demonstrating the synergistic catalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanocomposite. This study demonstrated a successful example regarding the direct growth of metal oxide on g-C3N4 by ion-dipole interaction between metallic ions, and the lone pair electrons on nitrogen atoms, which could provide a novel strategy for the preparation of g-C3N4-based nanocomposite.
