Enhanced catalytic activity of mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate via copper oxide modification

Abstract Aiming at enhancing the catalytic activity of mpg-C 3 N 4 on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate, mpg-C 3 N 4 was successfully modified by CuO nanorods, via a facile precipitation method. The structure, morphology and composition of mpg-C 3 N 4 and mpg-C 3 N 4 /CuO nanocomposites were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope, X-ray power diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that CuO nanorods (length of 200–300 nm, diameter of 10–15 nm) were uniformly dispersed throughout mpg-C 3 N 4 , efficiently avoiding the agglomeration. Finally, it was demonstrated that the high weight-loss decomposition temperature of AP was decreased up to 118.5 °C in the presence of 2 wt% mpg-C 3 N 4 /CuO nanocomposites, which was higher than that of pure mpg-C 3 N 4 and CuO, respectively, demonstrating the catalytic performances of the nanocomposites was enhanced via the synergistic catalysis between mpg-C 3 N 4 and CuO.