Preparation of g-C₃N₄ Nanosheets/CuO with Enhanced Catalytic Activity on the Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate

The thermal oxidation etching assisted g-C₃N₄ nanosheets/CuO was prepared through a facile co-precipitation strategy. In this work, the structure, morphology, and composition of g-C₃N₄ (UCN, prepared by urea), g-C₃N₄ nanosheets (TCN, prepared by thermal oxidation etching of UCN), g-C₃N₄/CuO (UCN/CuO), g-C₃N₄ nanosheets/CuO (TCN/CuO) were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, the catalytic effect of the obtained samples on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was examined by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). As a result, in the case of 5 wt% TCN/CuO, the high decomposition temperature of AP decreased by 120.6 °C, which is much lower than that of UCN, TCN, CuO and UCN/CuO. In addition, the exothermic heat released from the decomposition of AP increased from 430.64 J g⁻¹ to 2856.08 J g⁻¹. This evident catalytic activity may be related to the synergistic effect of CuO and TCN. This work provides a novel strategy for the construction of composite catalyst for the thermal decomposition of AP, which is supposed to possess significant potential in the solid propellant field.