Recent Progress on Synthesis, Characterization, and Performance of Energetic Cocrystals: A Review

Abstract

In the niche area of energetic materials, a balance between energy and safety is extremely important. To address this “energy–safety contradiction”, energetic cocrystals have been introduced. The investigation of the synthesis methods, characteristics, and efficacy of energetic cocrystals is of the utmost importance for optimizing their design and development. This review covers (i) various synthesis methods for energetic cocrystals; (ii) discusses their characteristics such as structural properties, detonation performance, sensitivity analysis, thermal properties, and morphology mapping, along with other properties such as oxygen balance, solubility, and fluorescence; and (iii) performance with respect to energy contents (detonation velocity and pressure) and sensitivity. This is followed by concluding remarks together with future perspectives.

Comparative Studies of Synthesis, Performance, and Applications of Recently Developed CL-20 Based Co-crystals

“…A pestle and mortar or a ball mill with grinding materials made of stainless steel, Teflon, or ceramic are usually used to grind solid-state materials either dry or with a little quantity of solvent added. 64 It is challenging to scale up solid-state grinding techniques to multikg or higher amounts. For the scalability of a mechanochemical method for EMs, compounds sensitive to mechanical stimuli (friction and impact) should be avoided.…”

“…Recently, the development of ECCs entirely composed of energetic co-formers has surpassed the earlier known ECCs synthesized by combining nonenergetic co-formers with energetic co-formers due to their poor energetic performance. , There are many ways to develop ECCs, each with advantages and disadvantages, including ultrasound, mechanochemical processes, and solution co-crystallization . The solubility of each co-former in various solvents and as a function of temperature is necessary knowledge for the solution co-crystallization method.…”

“…56,57 There are many ways to develop ECCs, each with advantages and disadvantages, including ultrasound, mechanochemical processes, and solution co-crystallization. 64 The solubility of each co-former in various solvents and as a function of temperature is necessary knowledge for the solution co-crystallization method. It may take a lot of work to find the best solvent that allows the co-formers to dissolve in an appropriate amount while preventing the production of undesirable co-former solvates or the CC product.…”

Thermally Stable and Insensitive Energetic Cocrystals Comprising Nitrobarbituric Acid Coformers

“…To make new energetic materials that can be utilized directly in the field, stringent requisites like cost-effective synthesis, scale-up feasibility, superior performance, insensitivity, and chemical and thermal stability need to be fulfilled. , In most cases, the newly developed energetic materials are still unable to completely replace currently used compounds in the explosives and propellants because of various problems, including high preparation cost, thermal instability, sensitivity to mechanical stimuli, and chemical incompatibility. , The contradiction between high performance and safety is still very prominent because there are often casualties and asset losses caused by an unintended explosion of compounds. To overcome these limitations, the cocrystallization method has attracted significant attention in the field of energetic materials. − In cocrystallization, two or more energetic or nonenergetic components are combined in a crystal lattice with a defined stoichiometric ratio, linked together through noncovalent interactions. This technique provides an opportunity to create new materials by combining existing benchmark explosives in cocrystals and optimizing their energetic properties .…”

Design of two-component molecular crystals with defined melting points

“…Recently, multicomponent crystals have been intensively used in different industrial spheres. Their applications in energetic materials, [1][2][3][4][5][6] the optical and semiconductor industries, [7][8][9][10][11] agro-chemicals 12 and pharmaceutics [13][14][15][16] are of particular importance. Temperature intervals, where materials are thermodynamically stable and keep their properties and functionality, play a key role in their utilization.…”