MgCo₂O₄ microflower with excellent thermocatalytic properties for ammonium perchlorate decomposition

The problem of easy agglomeration of nanomaterials will seriously affect their catalytic effect in AP thermal decomposition, so the improvement of the agglomeration phenomenon of nanomaterials has become a hot spot in the study of nanomaterials. In this work, MgCo₂O₄ microflower was prepared by a simple and efficient one-pot hydrothermal method. No surfactant or templating agent was used in the synthesis process.The specific surface area of MgCo₂O₄ microflower reached 109.631 m² g⁻¹, which was far more than that of other morphologies of MgCo₂O₄. The MgCo₂O₄ microflower’s increase in specific surface area provided more active sites, which facilitated the rapid thermal decomposition of AP. After adding 2 wt% MgCo₂O₄ microflower, the low-temperature thermal decomposition (LTD) and high-temperature thermal decomposition (HTD) of AP were combined into one peak, and the T_HTD decreased by 191 °C, the activation energy (Ea) decreased by 132 kJ mol⁻¹, and the exothermic amount increased to 1385.1 J g⁻¹. The thermal decomposition performance tests showed that MgCo₂O₄ microflower had excellent catalytic activity. In addition, the addition of MgCo₂O₄ microflower reduced the ignition delay time of AP/HTPB composite solid propellants (CSPs) from 61 to 12 ms, indicating its potential application in CSPs.