In-situ preparation of MgFe2O4-GO nanocomposite and its enhanced catalytic reactivity on decomposition of AP and RDX

Abstract MgFe2O4-GO nanocomposite was successfully prepared by in situ growth method and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, Raman, SEM and TEM. MgFe2O4 nanoparticles were tightly anchored on the surfaces of GO sheets, and no separation of MgFe2O4 from GO sheets was found after ultrasound treatment for 10 min. GO sheets effectively prevent the aggregation of MgFe2O4 nanoparticles, and the particle size of MgFe2O4 is about 80 nm. Catalytic decomposition results show that the MgFe2O4-GO nanocomposite could obviously reduce the decomposition temperature and apparent activation energy of AP from 406.8 to 306.5 °C and from 161.0 to 116.6 kJ mol−1，respectively, and increase the decomposition heat of AP from 654.7 to 1183.2 J g−1. The thermal decomposition temperature of RDX was also reduced from 242.3 to 234.6 °C. MgFe2O4-GO nanocomposite prepared by in situ growth method exhibits better catalytic decomposition performances than pure MgFe2O4, physical mixture MgFe2O4 + GO and self-assembled MgFe2O4/GO.