Regulating safety and energy release of energetic materials by manipulation of molybdenum disulfide phase

Designing advanced component for synergistically achieving the safety performance and energy releasing of widely studied energetic materials (EMs) is of far-reaching significance in composite solid propellants. Herein, molybdenum disulfide with high-active 1T phase (1T-MoS₂) was engineered by a phase-manipulation strategy through chemical Li-intercalation from its original state (2H-MoS₂). The as-prepared 1T-MoS₂ was used for the improved safety and decomposition performances of two typical EMs (ammonium perchlorate: AP and 1,3,5,7-tetranittro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane: HMX) in propellants. Lubricant 1T-MoS₂ endowed considerable advances in safety performance of EMs, with remarkably reduced the impact and friction sensitivity. Besides, fast energy-releasing performance with visibly lower activation energy was realized for AP@1T-MoS₂ and HMX@1T-MoS₂. In addition, large decomposition heats were simultaneously achieved. Computational studies disclosed this improvement could be attributed to the multi-coupling effect arising from the promoted electron transfer capability, strong affiliations of catalyst/burning products and the abundant actives sites of 1T-MoS₂ phase. Our results demonstrate substantial improvements in the synergistical design of safe and fast-decomposed AP and HMX complex for solid propellants.