Effects of interfacial interaction potential on the sublimation rates of TNT films on a silica surface examined by QCM and AFM techniques

The study of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) sublimation rates from the bulk surface and a substrate surface have been evaluated quantitatively with both atomic force microscopy and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) techniques. A first principle theoretical model is proposed, which allows obtaining three critical parameters, bulk sublimation rate, surface interaction potential, and the effective decay length, with no arbitrary parameters. The bulk sublimation rate predicted by the model is quantitatively confirmed by QCM experiments. The isothermal measurements with QCM showed that the sublimation activation energy of bulk TNT is 131 kJ/mol. More importantly, all results were obtained at one atmosphere and near room temperature. Thus, it should have direct impacts on explosive trace detection device applications.