Synthesis of Covalently Modified Energetic Graphene Oxide/CuO Composites with Enhanced Catalytic Performance for Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

[Image: see text] In this study, a new covalently modified energetic graphene oxide (CMGO) was synthesized by introducing the energetic component 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole on GO sheets through valence bond bonding. The morphology and structure of CMGO were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the results showed that CMGO was successfully synthesized. Then, CMGO/CuO was prepared by loading nano-CuO onto CMGO sheets using an ultrasonic dispersion method. Furthermore, the catalytic effect of CMGO/CuO on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was investigated using differential scanning calorimetric technique and thermogravimetric analysis. The results revealed that the high decomposition temperature T(H) and Gibbs free energy ΔG(⧧) of the CMGO/CuO/AP composite decreased by 93.9 °C and 15.3 kJ/mol compared with those of raw AP, respectively. The CMGO/CuO composite exhibited more significant catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of AP than GO/CuO, and the heat release Q of CMGO/CuO/AP was greatly increased from 132.9 to 1428.5 J/g with 5 wt % CMGO/CuO. The above results demonstrated that CMGO/CuO is an excellent composite energetic combustion catalyst, which is expected to be widely used in composite propellants.