Presenters: Amber Stricklen
Authors: Sangho Bok, Amber Stricklen, Jessica North, Sierra Padilla
Faculty Advisor: Sangho Bok
Institution: Southern Utah University
Abstract The purpose of this project is to create dense and porous 3D macrostructures to store nanoenergetic hybrid propellants through the formation of graphene organogels and by incorporating fuel and inorganic oxidizers by applying the resulting compound to rocket propulsion. Graphene organogels raise the reactivity of the hybrid propellants because of the increased surface and volumetric area for more reactions to occur. Hybrid propellants have advantages over liquid and solid propellants, with lower toxicity and reactivity than either propellant on its own. The organogels also have an immense amount of mechanical strength. Since functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) structures have electrostatic interactions, this will self-direct the assembly of Nanoscale Bismuth (III) oxide (Bi2O3) creating a homogeneous interconnected network of nanoenergetic material, where a specific amount of liquid fuel (kerosene) can be measured to provide the optimum speed of a rocket. In this presentation we focus on synthesis of oxidizer decorated porous GO structures. First, aerogels are synthesized by using graphene oxide, diamine linkers, and oxidizer nanoparticles. Graphene oxide colloidal solution is prepared with deionized water by extensive ultrasonication. A diamine and oxidizer nanoparticles are then introduced to interact with hydroxyl groups and after a 24 hour period of heating, the hydrogels are washed and then lyophilized for another 24 hour period to produce graphene aerogels. The diamines utilized in this process act as both reducing agents and crosslinkers of graphene oxide sheets. The resulting aerogels are largely porous. The pores within the aerogels are then filled with a liquid fuel such as kerosene. The progress of the synthesis and the test data will be presented. Acknowledgment The research is funded by Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium.