Preparation and characterization of functionalized aluminum nanoparticles

Abstract

Aluminum nanocomposite materials have been prepared by treating commercially available aluminum powders with long-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids. The acid coated aluminum qualitatively shows enhanced burning compared to the same aluminum powder that was not treated with the acid. This preparation method will allow for the large scale production of air-stable, passivated aluminum nanoparticles. Aluminum nanocomposite materials with size ranges less than 500 nm have been prepared with various surface passivation/functionalization schemes that mitigate aluminum oxide effects and reduce the fuel-oxidizer distance to the molecular level. These materials have been characterized to understand the changes in particle size and morphology that occur with different preparation schemes. TGA, XPS and IR results are presented. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.