Integration of nano-Al with Co ₃O ₄ nanorods to realize high-exothermic core-shell nanoenergetic materials on a silicon substrate

Nanoenergetic materials (nEMs) have better performance in ignition and energy release rate compared to conventional energetic materials. This makes them have promising applications in actuation, ignition, propulsion, power, fluidic, and electro-explosive devices at the micro and nanoscale. In this study, Co ₃O ₄ is used for the first time to achieve novel Al/Co ₃O ₄ based nEMs by integrating nano-Al with Co ₃O ₄ nanorods that are synthesized by a chemical method. The total heat of reaction, especially the exothermic reaction before Al melting, is greatly enhanced by using Co ₃O ₄ pure nanostructures (no microscale film exits). The nEMs are fabricated onto a silicon substrate, which is very convenient to achieve promising functional nanoenergetics-on-a-chip. The fabricated nEMs are confirmed to have nanoscale mixing, very high heat of reaction, and significantly reduced onset temperature of the major exothermic reaction by scanning electron microscopy, differential thermal/thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. © 2012 The Combustion Institute.