Insights into decomposition mechanism and gas evolution characteristics of energy-rich nitrochitosan by hyphenated TGA-FTIR analysis.

• A promising chitosan-based energetic polysaccharide was synthesized through nitration process. • Nitrochitosan (NCS) greater nitrogen content and heat release than the common nitrocellulose. • Hyphenated thermogravimetry-infrared spectroscopy tool was used to identify the evolved gaseous. • Thermal decomposition mechanism of NCS was elucidated for the first time. • NCS showed the great potential to be applied in future energetic formulations. High-substitute nitrochitosan (NCS) was synthesized via the esterification of chitosan, and its characteristics were deeply investigated. The chemical functionalities and morphological features of the starting chitosan and its nitrated derivative were scrutinized by FTIR and SEM analyses. Thermal characterizations by TGA and DSC showed that NCS has two consecutive exothermic processes, involving the thermolysis of explosophoric functional groups accompanied by the thermo-oxidative degradation of the polymeric framework. In addition, hyphenated TGA-FTIR characterization highlighted that the main evolved products during NCS decomposition are NO, NO 2 , CO 2 , H 2 O, CH 4 , HCN, and CH 2 O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]