All-Nitrogen or High-Nitrogen Compounds as High Energy Density Materials

During Phase I of the proposed program, ERC-Incorporated proposes to identify novel promising polynitrogen candidates by means of theoretical calculations. Furthermore, preliminary tests will be carried out to explore the feasibility of synthesizing the most promising candidates. High-nitrogen compounds constitute a second area of significant interest. It is well known that the insertion of one hetero atom, such as carbon or oxygen, can greatly enhance the stability of a polynitrogen compound. Therefore, these compounds might exhibit better stability, while retaining much of the endothermicity. Furthermore, numerous polyazido compounds are known which combine high nitrogen content with reasonable stability. The proposed work would be divided equally between ERC-Incorporated, the small business partner, and the Loker Research Institute of the University of California. Prof. Karl Christe, the Principal Investigator and Responsible Scientist for this program, has active research groups at each location and is splitting his time between the two efforts, guaranteeing maximum collaboration and synergy. ERC-Incorporated is an on-site contractor at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Edwards AFB, CA, and has full access to all the testing facilities and computational capabilities at AFRL. The synthesis and characterization efforts would be divided between USC and ERC, because both groups have excellent capabilities in this area.