Fabrication of hybrid aluminum nanoparticles with organosilicon surface by solvent-free coating approach

With the development of aerospace industry, hybrid nano-Al particles with considerable energy release and stable surface immune to the air and moisture have attracted much attention when they are applied as fuel to solid rocket propellants. In this study, nano-Al particles (80~120 nm) were covered with an organic single layer, which was obtained by solvent-free gas-phase-coating approach in the presence of organosilanes. The characterization results clearly indicated that the coated aluminum nanoparticles are resistant to the air and moisture. Note here that no significant loss of the active aluminum contents was observed after being coated with the organic single layer, meaning that negligible power loss occurs during the combustion of such coated aluminum particles as a fuel. Combining with the advantage that the wettability of the coated surface could be adjustable by using chlorotrimethylsilane (CTMS) and dimethoxydimethylsilane (DMODMS) in a given sequence, such approach opens a new door to produce a potential fuel with protected surface and considerable energy release for solid rocket propellant. Moreover, the possible mechanism for coating the surface of aluminum nanoparticles with CTMS and DMODMS was proposed.