Thermal Analysis of the Exothermic Reaction between Galvanic Porous Silicon and Sodium Perchlorate

Abstract

Porous silicon (PS) films up to ∼150 μm thick with specific surface area similar to 700 m2/g and pore diameters similar to 3 nm are fabricated using a galvanic corrosion etching mechanism that does not require a power supply. After fabrication, the pores are impregnated with the strong oxidizer sodium perchlorate (NaClO4) to create a composite that constitutes a highly energetic system capable of explosion. Using bomb calorimetry, the heat of reaction is determined to be 9.9 ± 1.8 and 27.3 ± 3.2 kJ/g of PS when ignited under N2 and O2, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) reveals that the energy output is dependent on the hydrogen termination of the PS.