In recent years, rocket scientists have devoted attention to the development of environmentally friendly hypergolic propellants for propulsion of space vehicles. In this study, sodium iodide a trigger compound was investigated to improve the hypergolic performance of green fuels viz., ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium cyanoborohydride ((EMIM)[BH_3CN]), and zwitterion, 1-methyl imidazolium borane (MIMBH3) with 95% H_2O_2 green oxidizer. A 9 wt.% of sodium iodide in [EMIMHBH3CN] exhibited an ignition delay time of ～75 ms. However, 9 wt.% of sodium iodide in the blend of [EMIM)[BH3CN]:furfuryl alcohol (1:1 wt./wt.%) revealed an ignition delay time of 56 ms. These ignition delay times were a hundred times lower than the neat fuel of [EMIMHBH_3CN]. Interestingly, the MIMBH_3 exhibited a shorter ignition delay time was about 25 ms, with the addition of < 3 wt.% of sodium iodide. Moreover, furfuryl alcohol blended with ionic liquid also improved the performance of hypergolic bipropellants.
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