Nanostructured Energetic Composites: Synthesis, Ignition/Combustion Modeling, and Applications

Nanotechnology has stimulated revolutionary advances in many scientific and industrial fields, particularly in energetic materials. Powder mixing is the simplest and most traditional method to prepare nanoenergetic composites, and preliminary findings have shown that these composites perform more effectively than their micro- or macro-sized counterparts in terms of energy release, ignition, and combustion. Powder mixing technology represents only the minimum capability of nanotechnology to boost the development of energetic material research, and it has intrinsic limitations, namely, random distribution of fuel and oxidizer particles, inevitable fuel pre-oxidation, and non-intimate contact between reactants. As an alternative, nanostructured energetic composites can be prepared through a delicately designed process. These composites outperform powder-mixed nanocomposites in numerous ways; therefore, we comprehensively discuss the preparation strategies adopted for nanostructured energetic composites and the research achievements thus far in this review. The latest ignition and reaction models are briefly introduced. Finally, the broad promising applications of nanostructured energetic composites are highlighted.