Superhydrophobic Coatings for Nanoenergetic Material Combustion

There is an interest in broadening the range of applications of nanoenergetic composite materials to include their combustion and energy generation in submerged environments. Currently, their use is primarily limited to gas environments. Oceanic power generation, underwater ordnance, propulsion, metal cutting, and torch technologies are examples of applications that would significantly benefit from nanocomposite energetic materials. Recent research on superhydrophobic coatings has made it possible to coat nanoenergetic samples using a vapor-phase deposition process which significantly reduces the detrimental effects of water entering the composite that can occur during wet-chemistry based superhydrophobic processes. In this work we discuss the process utilized to produce the superhydrophobic coating on nanoenergetic substrates. We then analyze the bubble energy produced and compare this value to other energetic formulations. It was found that the ratio of the bubble energy to the tota