Scaled-up production and quality controlling techniques of energetic cocrystals: challenges and prospects

Abstract

Abstract Cocrystallization techniques have become extremely important methods for obtaining novel high-energy insensitive energetic materials, and it has attracted great attention for the development of high-energy explosives and propellants, etc. in recent years. Several scale-up cocrystallization techniques including solvent-nonsolvent, semibatch reaction, bead milling, and spray drying methods et al. have been applied for obtaining the energetic cocrystals, and the preparation processes of these methods were also shown. The types and quality of raw materials and solvents, the synthetic times, morphology, and size of these cocrystals were described and compared by using different synthetic techniques in the review. Moreover, the principle, advantages and disadvantages of scale-up preparation methods were shown. More importantly, the preparation efficiency, the ratio between the quality of raw materials and the volume of solvent, and yield of different methods were also exhibited and discussed, which can provide key information and experiences for the future application of the materials. Finally, future research trends are suggested from different perspectives involving the formation mechanisms in the preparation process by using intermolecular interaction simulation, experimental study, and thermodynamic calculations, the optimization of traditional scale-up techniques, and the exploitation of novel methods for the energetic cocrystals.