High-performance of CL-20/HMX nano co-crystals is readily synthesized by ultrasonic spray-assisted electrostatic adsorption method. This facile and continuous approach reduces handling time, minimizes the potential of aggregation via the electrostatic repulsive force among nano co-crystal particles and opens up new perspectives in fabricating various organic nano-sized co-crystals on a large-scale.

Core–shell HMX@TATB composites with low shell content and compact shell structure were fabricated via a facile and effective spray-drying technique.

Nano-1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (FOX-7) explosive particles were successfully prepared via an ultrasonic spray-assisted electrostatic adsorption (USEA) method and sub-micro FOX-7 was also obtained by recrystallization (using absolute ethyl alcohol as the solvent) for comparison. The samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and particle size and size distribution. The results showed that there were two groups of size distribution. For the nano-sized FOX-7, prepared by the USEA method, the size distribution was in the range of 30 to 200 nm and the average particle size of FOX-7 was approximately 78 nm. While, sub-micro FOX-7 particles obtained via recrystallization had a single size distribution of 200–450 nm. The particles were cubic and spheroidal, respectively. What's more, their thermal properties were also investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG). For nano-sized FOX-7, the first exothermic peak (267.4 °C) was increased by 45 °C and had a faster energy releasing efficiency and released more energy compared to original and sub-micro particle crystals (222.7 °C). There is a potential alternative application for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), micro thrusters and so on.