Butterfly wing fans the fire: High efficient combustion of CWs/CL-20/AP nanocomposite for light ignited micro thruster using multi-channeled hierarchical porous structure from butterfly wing scales

•Energetic composite with CL-20 and AP confined in carbonized butterfly wing scales (CWs) matrix has been designed to achieve laser ignited microcombusion.•High-efficiency, stable and self-sustaining microcombustion of the CWs/CL-20/AP energetic composite has been realized due to the enhanced heat and mass transfer.•Multi-channeled hierarchical porous structure and synergistic reactions are responsible for the excellent microcombustion performance.•Composite with oxygen balance close to zero has the best mircocombustion performance. To meet the requirement of miniaturization and integration of the micro thrusters based on the chemical fuels, high-energy density compound is an emerging material as the chemical fuel. However, it is still challenging to realize the high-efficiency, stable and self-sustaining microcombustion of the high-energy density chemical fuels. Herein, we report the high-performance microcombustion of CWs/AP/CL-20 composite with nanoscale 2,4,6,8,10,12-(hexanitrohexaaza)cyclododecane (CL-20) and oxidizer ammonium perchlorate (AP) confined in a self-standing carbonized butterfly wing scales (CWs) matrix. CWs with multi-channeled hierarchical porous structure provide a model architecture for loading of AP and CL-20. CL-20 is designed to serve as heat/pressure loss compensate agent due to its high-energy density, fast energy release rate and large amounts of gas release during combustion process. The combustion of CWs/AP/CL-20 is greatly enhanced due to the enhanced heat and mass transfer originating from the multi-channeled hierarchical porous structure and synergistic reactions between components at nanoscales, which is demonstrated as promising solid-propellant for the micro thruster. It is found that the sample with oxygen balance close to zero, which can be conveniently regulated by adjusting the mass ratio of CL-20 and AP, has the best microcombustion performance, resulting in a specific impulse of 383.5 N·s/kg. [Display omitted]