Enhanced catalytic performance on the thermal decomposition of TKX-50 by Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles highly dispersed on rGO

Fe₃O₄/reduced graphene oxide (Fe₃O₄/rGO) nanocomposite has been successfully fabricated using a modified interface solvothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In the preparation procedure, graphene oxide was reduced and ultrafine Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) were uniformly loaded on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) carrier. Scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope images and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area revealed that the aggregation of Fe₃O₄ NPs was greatly reduced by introducing rGO as a substrate. The average size of the Fe₃O₄ NPs anchored on the graphene sheets was 100 nm, which is much smaller than 1-μm bare Fe₃O₄. The DSC results showed that Fe₃O₄/rGO nanocomposite reduces the first decomposition temperature of dihydroxylammonium 5,5′-bistetrazole-1,1′-diolate (TKX-50) by 44.9 °C and decreases the apparent activation energy of TKX-50 by 26.2 kJ mol⁻¹, which exhibits higher catalytic performance than its individual components and their physical mixture (hybrid). Hence, Fe₃O₄/rGO nanocomposite can be a promising additive for insensitive solid propellants based on TKX-50.