Chemically driven energetic molecular ferroelectrics

Yong Hu; Zhiyu Liu; Chi-Chin Wu; Jennifer L Gottfried; Rose Pesce-Rodriguez; Scott D Walck; Peter W Chung; Shenqiang Ren

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26007-2

Chemically driven energetic molecular ferroelectrics

Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 29;12(1):5696. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26007-2.

Authors

Yong Hu¹, Zhiyu Liu², Chi-Chin Wu³, Jennifer L Gottfried⁴, Rose Pesce-Rodriguez⁵, Scott D Walck⁵, Peter W Chung², Shenqiang Ren^{6

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA.
³ Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA. chi-chin.wu.civ@mail.mil.
⁴ Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA. jennifer.l.gottfried.civ@mail.mil.
⁵ Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA. shenren@buffalo.edu.
⁷ Research and Education in Energy Environment & Water Institute, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA. shenren@buffalo.edu.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA. shenren@buffalo.edu.

Abstract

Chemically driven thermal wave triggers high energy release rate in covalently-bonded molecular energetic materials. Molecular ferroelectrics bridge thermal wave and electrical energy by pyroelectric associated with heating frequency, thermal mass and heat transfer. Herein we design energetic molecular ferroelectrics consisting of imidazolium cations (energetic ion) and perchlorate anions (oxidizer), and describe its thermal wave energy conversion with a specific power of 1.8 kW kg^-1. Such a molecular ferroelectric crystal shows an estimated detonation velocity of 7.20 ± 0.27 km s^-1 comparable to trinitrotoluene and hexanitrostilbene. A polarization-dependent heat transfer and specific power suggests the role of electron-phonon interaction in tuning energy density of energetic molecular ferroelectrics. These findings represent a class of molecular ferroelectric energetic compounds for emerging energy applications demanding high power density.

Grants and funding

W911NF-18-2-0202/United States Department of Defense | United States Army | U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command | Army Research Office (ARO)