Abstract:In order to study the catalytic performance of bimetallic oxides in solid propellants, the honeycombs ZnCo2O4(ZnCo2O4(HCs)) particles grown on nickel foam (NF) were successfully prepared by solvothermal method and the subsequent thermal annealing process. Its phase composition and morphology structure were systematically characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopic(FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N2 adsorption-desorption test. The thermal behavior of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzane (CL-20) catalyzed by ZnCo2O4(HCs) were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results showed that when 20% ZnCo2O4(HCs) is added, the thermal decomposition peak temperatures of ZnCo2O4(HCs)/AP and ZnCo2O4(HCs)/CL-20 decreased most which were 575.01 K and 521.55 K, respectively. Compared with pure AP and CL-20, the exothermic decomposition peak temperatures of ZnCo2O4(HCs)/AP and ZnCo2O4(HCs)/CL-20 were decreased by 101.87 and 3.73 K and the apparent activation energies calculated by thermal analysis kinetics were reduced by 17.88 and 6.23 kJ·mol-1. Furthermore, the as-prepared ZnCo2O4(HCs) exhibited good catalytic activity comparing with ZnCo2O4 nanocrystallites (NCs), nanowires (NWs) and nanospheres (NSs). This can be attributed to the porous structure and large specific surface area of ZnCo2O4(HCs), which can provide rich active sites as a catalyst for the thermal decomposition reaction.