Ionic liquid solubilized boranes as hypergolic fluids

Abstract

Borane compounds which are hydrogen storage materials are hypergolic with white fuming nitric acid as oxidizer. When dissolved in ionic liquids, the borane solutions exhibit ignition delay times which are superior to any known hypergolic ionic liquids. These borane-ionic liquid solutions appear to be the brightest hope so far to replace hydrazine and its derivatives as fuels in hypergolic propellant systems. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.