(652d) Synthesis and Characterization of Energetic Nanomaterials for Propulsion Applications

The focus of our work for the last several years has been to discover synthesis routes to novel energetic nanostructures suitable for propulsion applications, such as fuel additives, and to characterize the properties and chemical dynamics of these materials.  Most recently, we have synthesized organically-capped metal nanoparticles, metal-decorated graphene oxide (GO), GO gels, and GO-wrapped metal nanoparticles.  These materials have been characterized using a variety of techniques including DSC, TGA, XRD, SEM & TEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy in order to understand their size, structure, composition and thermal properties.  The (often unique) chemical dynamics of these materials have been investigated using time-dependent calorimetry, spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry techniques.  Of particular interest is the influence of factors such as size, structure, and passivation method on the resulting chemical reaction pathways and their associated kinetics.  We will present our most recent results from these efforts and discuss the outlook for future work.