Combustion and material characterization of porous silicon nanoenergetics

Certain porous silicon (PS) structures have demonstrated energetic characteristics when mixed with an appropriate oxidizer [1-4]. However, limited studies on the effect of PS structure on its combustion have been performed. This work investigates how various material properties of PS films; surface area, porosity and pore size, affect the combustion process. With pore sizes in the range of 2.6-5.2 nm and surface area reaching over 900 m²/g, these materials are capable of considerably fast reactions. Combustion characterization is performed through high speed imaging at a rate of 930,000 frames per second. Propagation speeds in the current study range from 300-1950 m/s, and some relationships between the pore characteristics and the propagation velocity are observed.