Controllable Electrically Guided Nano-Al/MoO₃ Energetic-Film Formation on a Semiconductor Bridge with High Reactivity and Combustion Performance

• Main Authors: Xiaogang Guo, Qi Sun, Taotao Liang, A. S. Giwa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: nano-Al/MoO₃ MIC; stable suspension; electrophoretic deposition; kinetics; micro initiator
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/10/5/955

Film-forming techniques and the control of heat release in micro-energetic chips or devices create challenges and bottlenecks for the utilization of energy. In this study, promising nano-Al/MoO₃ metastable intermolecular composite (MIC) chips with an uniform distribution of particles were firstly designed via a convenient and high-efficiency electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique at room temperature and under ambient pressure conditions. The mixture of isopropanol, polyethyleneimine, and benzoic acid proved to be an optimized dispersing agent for EPD. The kinetics of EPD for oxidants (Al) and reductants (MoO₃) were systematically investigated, which contributed to adjusting the equivalence ratio of targeted energetic chips after changing the EPD dynamic behaviors of Al and MoO₃ in suspension. In addition, the obtained nano-Al/MoO₃ MIC energetic chips showed excellent heat-release performance with a high heat release of ca. 3340 J/g, and were successfully ignited with a dazzling flame recorded by a high-speed camera. Moreover, the fabrication method here is fully compatible with a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS), which suggests promising potential in designing and developing other MIC energetic chips or devices for micro-ignition/propulsion applications.