As an eco-friendly alternative fuel material, ammonium dinitramide (ADN, NH4N(NO2)2) is safe and stable at room temperature; however, it requires high purity for practical applications. A small amount of impurities can retard the catalytic decomposition
of the monopropellant in the thruster, lower the specific impulse, and induce side effects such as clogging of the nozzle. Therefore, we purified NH4N(NO2)2 by performing repeated extractions, adsorption by powdered activated carbon, and low-temperature extractions.
In this study, we evaluated the chemical density of purified NH4N(NO2)2 through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and ion chromatography, and obtained a final purity of 99.8%. Furthermore, we fabricated a liquid fuel
using high-purity NH4N(NO2)2 as the main oxidizing agent, and can be prepared a mono-propellant formulation that exhibited decomposition at a minimum temperature of 148 °C.
