Fabrication of Pb₃O₄ and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles and their application as the catalysts in thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) of lead tetroxide (Pb3O4) with the spherical morphology were manufactured by the reaction of lead nitrate with sodium hydroxide, while the nanoparticles (NPs) of red iron oxide (Fe2O3) with similar morphology were fabricated by hydrothermal route in the presence of ferric chloride hexahydrate as the precursor. Evaluation of the chemical structure, the purity and the morphology of the manufactured Fe2O3 and Pb3O4 NPs was carried out by analysis via X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as scanning electron microscope (SEM). The outcomes of XRD recognized establishment of the desired oxides, wherever the SEM images clearly exhibited the morphology of the manufactured Pb3O4 and Fe2O3 as the spherical NPs with an average particle sizes of near to 40 and 46 nm, respectively. The catalytic effect of the metallic oxide NPs on the perfection of ammonium perchlorate (AP) thermal decomposing was established by testing their AP nano-composites via differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) together with thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Thermal behavior studies displayed that adding of 5% Fe2O3/Pb3O4 NPs (as the mixture) delivers a concerned catalytic effect during AP thermal decomposition. Additionally, thermal decomposition of AP could be amended by adding of 2% Pb3O4 NPs. Further comparison of the NPs catalytic effects was obtained by computing the values of activation energies (E) and thermodynamic parameters (i.e., ΔS#, ΔH# and ΔG#) for their thermal decomposition by non-isothermal approaches.