Assembly and reaction characterization of a novel thermite consisting aluminum nanoparticles and CuO nanowires

A novel approach for assembling Al/CuO thermite consists of aluminum nanoparticles and cupric oxide nanowires has been successfully developed in this study. Aluminum nanoparticles were driven into gaps in the cupric oxide nanowires layer on a copper wire through electrophoretic deposition in this method. The cupric oxide nanowires along with oxide layers were grown on the copper wire via thermal oxidation, and the remaining copper core was the negative electrode that attracted aluminum particles carrying positive surface charges in the ethanol/water solution during electrophoretic deposition. A nanothermite shell enclosing the copper wire was obtained after the process. Considerable heat release from the thermite wire was observed starting from ∼400 °C in differential scanning calorimetry measurements. Exothermic solid-solid thermite reactions were fully ignited at 529 °C, and the heat release peaked at 566 °C. Above the melting temperature of aluminum, another heat release peak, which could be associated with reactions between liquid aluminum and the remaining oxides, was detected at 760 °C. Overall heat release of the nanothermite wire assembled with 80 V and 10 s electrophoretic deposition was 3108 J/g. Reaction propagation speed along the nanothermite wire with 10 s electrophoretic deposition was the highest at 43.8 cm/s, and longer deposition durations resulted in slower burning speeds.