Pressure-Induced Topochemical Polymerization toward Advanced Energetic Materials

Pressure produces closely packed, high-density materials, thereby providing a promising strategy to obtain high-energy-density materials. However, new phases or structures of energetic materials at high pressure are often not quenchable under ambient conditions. In this work, high-pressure topochemical methodology is first introduced for the preparation of stable energetic materials under ambient conditions. A pressure-induced polymerizable energetic material named PIP-1 is designed and prepared. The experimental measurements demonstrate that the polymerization of PIP-1 is caused by the breakage of C≡C bonds and the generation of C=C bonds. In accord with the experimental results, density functional theory calculations further revealed that the monomer PIP-1 is polymerized to generate 1D PIP-1 tape, and the density of polymerized PIP-1 is increased by 4.9% upon decompression. The successful realization of high-energy-density structure using high pressure showcases a new design strategy for advanced polymerizable energetic materials.