The Fe₂O₃/ammonium perchlorate (AP) composite nanoparticles have been prepared by a novel solvent-nonsolvent method.The composite particles obtained have been characterized by TEM, SEM, XRD and ICP.To analyze the catalytic effect of nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles on the thermal decomposition of AP in the composite particles, the comparison samples by simply mixing micrometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles and nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles with AP respectively have been prepared and DTA experiments were used to characterize their catalytic performance.It is shown that the catalytic performance of nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles is superior to that of micrometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles, and the nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles in the composite particles exhibit the best catalytic performance on the thermal decomposition of AP.Compared with the simply mixed sample of nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles and AP, the peak temperature of high temperature decomposition of Fe₂O₃/AP composite nanoparticles decreases 20.1℃, and the total heat release improves from 850.2 J/g to 1080.8 J/g.Fe₂O₃/AP composite nanoparticles can improve the catalytic performance of nanometer-sized Fe₂O₃ particles on the thermal decomposition of AP.The kinetics parameters of the thermal decomposition of AP in different samples were investigated to explain the above results.

Key words: solvent-nonsolvent method, Fe₂O₃, ammonium perchlorate, composite nanoparticle, catalytic performance