Nanoenergetic materials

Nanoenergetic materials offer the potential to curtail the current limitations of both composite as well as monomolecular conventional energetic materials. Research on nanoenergetics attempts to achieve faster and more intensive mixing of the fuel and oxidizing agents by drastically reducing the scale of the distances involved. In most nanoenergetic formulations, nanoaluminum (aluminum nanoparticles) is used as the fuel and metal oxides as the oxidizing agents.

Thermites belong to a category of energetic material comprising of a metal as a fuel and a metal oxide as the oxidizer. The redox reaction between the metal and metal oxide is highly exothermic. The exothermicity of thermite reaction has long been advantageously used for applications such as welding. However, their use for military and defense applications has been limited due to their sluggish reaction rate. The development of nanotechnology has made the synthesis of nano-sized metallic and metal oxide particle possible, thereby creating a nano-thermite system. Nano-thermites are also known as Metastable Intermolecular Composites (MIC).

With significant reduction in the size of the reactants, MIC has opened up new possibilities for enhancing the energy release of thermites by curtailing diffusion controlled chemical reactions. The research on nano-thermites has significantly emerged in the last decade and novel ways to harness their energy with improved reaction rate remains highly desirable to date.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​