High-energy Al/graphene oxide/CuFe₂O₄ nanocomposite fabricated by self-assembly: Evaluation of heat release, ignition behavior, and catalytic performance

As part of our ongoing search for high-performance nanoenergetic materials, we herein used self-assembly guided by negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) to fabricate a high-energy Al/GO/CuFe₂O₄ nanocomposite with a dense layered structure featuring evenly mixed Al and CuFe₂O₄ nanoparticles uniformly loaded on the GO surface. Investigation of the effects of the equivalence ratio (Φ ​= ​1.00–1.75) showed that the heat release achieved at the optimal value of Φ ​= ​1.50 (3175 ​± ​65 ​J·g⁻¹) exceeded that of most known thermites, while the fierce ignition process of this composite was characterized by an ignition delay time of (0.025 ​± ​0.002) s, a flame propagation speed of (14.3 ​± ​3.8) m·s⁻¹, and a continuous reaction duration of (33 ​± ​0.58) ms. In addition, the nanocomposite with Φ ​= ​1.00 effectively catalyzed the thermal decomposition of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and ammonium perchlorate (AP), decreasing their decomposition temperatures by 7.4 and 64.8 ​°C, respectively, reducing their apparent activation energies of decomposition by 118.7 and 18 ​kJ·mol⁻¹, respectively. And the constant-volume combustion enthalpies of RDX and AP increase with the addition of Al/GO/CuFe₂O₄. The reason of this enhanced performance was probed by analyzing the nanocomposite assembly process, and a plausible assembly mechanism was proposed.