Higher performance burn rate catalysts for composite solid propellants based on nanocomposites of ferrocene modified dendrimers, metal nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide

• Main Authors: Camarada - Uribe, María
• Other Authors: Universidad Mayor
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: composite solid propellants ferrocene derived burn rate catalysts graphene-dendrimer supported nanoparticles; Fisico-Quimica; Magallanes; Valparaíso; Bío Bío; General Bernardo O'Higgins; Antártica
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10533/48719

PROJECT RESULTS: Describe the results of your research in reference to its original and/or modified Project objectives. The maximum extension of this section is 5 pages (Arial or Verdana font, size 10). The project ended initially in March 2022. However, due to the pandemic, we asked for an extension of one year to finish the last experimental measurements and computational simulations associated with the project. On the other hand, the PI transferred the project from Universidad Mayor to Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in March 2021. As lockdown periods were active in the country, the process of characterization of catalysts in the new Laboratory space was slower than expected. The project's specific goals (SG) were achieved with 95%. (SG1) Synthesize and perform structural and morphological characterization of PAMAM- Fc dendrimers impregnated with metal NPs (PAMAM-Fc|NPs) (100% completed): PAMAM- Fc was synthesized and fully characterized. This matrix was used as support to prepare copper, nickel, and cobalt nanoparticles. The synthetic strategy and the characterization results (DSC, RMN, FT-IR, and UV-vis) are available in the following article published in the journal "Materials Today Chemistry" (see supporting information is attached in the annexes section, Fig. S1-S6): Reference [1]. (SG2) Generate and chemically characterize nanocomposites of the metal nanoparticles supported on PAMAM-Fc and rGO (PAMAM-Fc|NPs|rGO) (100% completed): The nanocomposites with rGO and nanoparticles were reported in the following publications [2-4]. However, according to our calorimetry results, rGO and GO are retardants of the decomposition process of ammonium perchlorate (AP) (Figure 1). Figure 1: DSC curves for pure AP and AP thermal decomposition with 1, 3, and 5% wt. of (a) GO and (b) rGO. Then, adding rGO to the PAMAM-Fc matrix increases AP's high-temperature decomposition (HTD), an effect that does not improve the performance of the fuel. Then, we decided to proceed with PAMAM-Fc|NPs system without rGO. (SG3) ...