An All-Energetic HNS/DATNBI Composite with High Thermal Stability and Enhanced Near-Infrared Laser Ignitability

Developing all-energetic composite materials with high laser responsiveness, thermal stability, and energy density is essential for advancing laser ignition technologies under harsh conditions. Herein, a surfactant-assisted recrystallization strategy was developed to construct an all-energetic HNS/DATNBI composite by integrating thermally stable hexanitrostilbene (HNS) with DATNBI as an energetic photosensitizer. Surfactant-regulated recrystallization effectively tailors the crystal morphology and surface microstructure of DATNBI, resulting in significantly enhanced near-infrared (NIR) absorption and photothermal response. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that HNS and DATNBI can spontaneously assemble into a stable composite structure through strong intermolecular non-covalent interactions, with a binding energy of −2.03 eV. The optimized HNS/DATNBI composite can be readily ignited by a 10 W, 1064 nm laser, exhibiting stable combustion with an ignition delay of only 71 ms. Meanwhile, the composite maintains relatively high thermal stability, with a decomposition peak temperature of 334.6°C, together with reduced mechanical sensitivity compared with pristine HNS, achieving a favorable balance between laser ignitability and safety. Furthermore, the NIR-responsive composite was successfully incorporated into an Al/PVDF energetic film, reducing the ignition delay to approximately 10 ms. These results demonstrate that surfactant-regulated recrystallization of an energetic photosensitizer provides an effective strategy for constructing thermally robust and highly NIR-responsive energetic composites.