Constructing Sheet-On-Sheet Structured Graphitic Carbon Nitride/Reduced Graphene Oxide/Layered MnO(2) Ternary Nanocomposite with Outstanding Catalytic Properties on Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

We unprecedentedly report that layered MnO(2) nanosheets were in situ formed onto the surface of covalently bonded graphitic carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite (g-C(3)N(4)/rGO), forming sheet-on-sheet structured two dimension (2D) graphitic carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide/layered MnO(2) ternary nanocomposite (g-C(3)N(4)/rGO/MnO(2)) with outstanding catalytic properties on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). The covalently bonded g-C(3)N(4)/rGO was firstly prepared by the calcination of graphene oxide-guanidine hydrochloride precursor (GO-GndCl), following by its dispersion into the KMnO(4) aqueous solution to construct the g-C(3)N(4)/rGO/MnO(2) ternary nanocomposite. FT-IR, XRD, Raman as well as the XPS results clearly demonstrated the chemical interaction between g-C(3)N(4), rGO and MnO(2). TEM and element mapping indicated that layered g-C(3)N(4)/rGO was covered with thin MnO(2) nanosheets. Furthermore, the obtained g-C(3)N(4)/rGO/MnO(2) nanocomposite exhibited promising catalytic capacity on thermal decomposition of AP. Upon addition of 2 wt % g-C(3)N(4)/rGO/MnO(2) ternary nanocomposite as catalyst, the thermal decomposition temperature of AP was largely decreased up by 142.5 °C, which was higher than that of pure g-C(3)N(4), g-C(3)N(4)/rGO and MnO(2), respectively, demonstrating the synergistic catalysis of the as-prepared nanocomposite.