MOFs in propellant technology: Achieving comprehensive and superior combustion efficiency and performance

Comprehensively and objectively evaluating the catalytic combustion performance of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) aids in broadening the scope of screening combustion catalysts. The study has prepared a series of typical solid composite propellants using nano-CuO along with two types of Cu-MOFs [Cu(trz) and Cu(btc)] as combustion catalysts. Our results indicated that Cu-MOFs expedited the decomposition of NENA plasticizer, generated CuO in situ, mitigated the agglomeration of Al particle combustion, and enhanced the combustion efficiency of Al, thus improving the energy release efficiency and increasing burning rates. Given an equal copper content, both Cu(trz) and Cu(btc) outperformed nano-CuO in terms of their catalytic efficiency. When compared to Cu(trz), Cu(btc) not only generated CuO in situ, but also produced graphite during combustion, reducing the burning rate pressure exponent. MOFs ligands also significantly affected the combustion properties. We anticipate that our findings will offer insights into the design of MOFs combustion catalysts for tailored combustion.