Enforced Layer-by-Layer Stacking of Energetic Salts towards High-Performance Insensitive Energetic Materials

Development of modern high-performance insensitive energetic materials is significant because of the increasing demands for both military and civilian applications. Here we propose a rapid and facile strategy called the "layer hydrogen bonding pairing approach" to organize energetic molecules via layer-by-layer stacking, which grants access to tunable energetic materials with targeted properties. Using this strategy, an unusual energetic salt, hydroxylammonium 4-amino-furazan-3-yl-tetrazol-1-olate, with good detonation performances and excellent sensitivities, was designed, synthesized, and fully characterized. In addition, the expected unique layer-by-layer structure with a high crystal packing coefficient was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Calculations indicate that the layer-stacking structure of this material can absorb the mechanical stimuli-induced kinetic energy by converting it to layer sliding, which results in low sensitivity.