Stabilization of the energetic Al powder through uniform and controlled surface coating for promoting its energy output

Abstract With the merit of high energy density, Al based energetic materials have attracted significant attention for various applications. However, the easy corrosion of Al powder by H2O will lead to the degradation and invalidation of Al based energetic materials, and bring about safety risks. Herein, we developed a controllable surface coating strategy for the stabilization of Al powder in hot water. By controlling the precipitation kinetics of manganese ions in ethanol, uniform manganese oxide coating layer with a thickness of 20–60 nm can be formed on the surface of the energetic Al powder. The corrosion and degradation of energetic Al powder in hot water is able to be effectively suppressed due to the effective protection from the uniform coating layer. Moreover, the Al powder was activated due to the thermite reaction between manganese oxide and Al, which further promoted the energy output of the Al based energetic materials. Such strategy can not only contribute to the further improvement and industrial production of the Al based energetic materials, but also shed light on the design of core-shell structured functional materials in different fields.