Synthesis of Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites with enhanced catalytic activity on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

In this article, the Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites were synthesized by the co-precipitation method using Cu(NO3)(2)center dot 3H(2)O, Cr(NO3)(3)center dot 3H(2)O and Fe(NO3)(3)center dot 9H(2)O as precursors, with PEG-400 act as a dispersant and ammonia as the precipitating agent. A variety of Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites with different molar ratios were obtained by keeping a constant amount of Cu and adjusting Cr/Fe molar ratios (Cr/Fe = 8:2, 6:4, 4:6 and 2:8). The crystal form and morphology of Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites mainly consist of CuCr2O4 and CuFe2O4, which are the good dispersing sphere particles with the average diameter of approximately 50 nm. Further, the catalytic effects of the Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetric (TG-DSC) techniques. Gratifyingly, the TG-DSC results that the four kinds of Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites have the significant catalytic effect for the thermal decomposition of AP, and the Cu-Cr-Fe ternary metal oxide nanocomposites with the molar ratio of Cu/Cr/Fe = 5:4:6 is verified to be the most efficient catalyst, which could lower the peak temperature of high-temperature decomposition of AP to 366.4 degrees C from 441.3 degrees C in the presence of 2%.