Copper oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by the chemical liquid deposition method and characterized by means of X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD and SEM results showed that the particle size was between 50 nm and 70 nm. Ammonium perchlorate (AP)-CuO nanostructures have been prepared by ex-situ mixing of AP and CuO nanoparticles, while AP/CuO nanocomposites have been obtained by in-situ growth of nano CuO on the surface of AP. The effect of the nanoparticles on the thermal decomposition of AP has been examined by differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. The results showed that the ex-situ prepared nanoparticles had better catalytic activity than the in-situ prepared ones. The effect of the synthesized nanoparticles on the thermal decomposition of AP in experiments with a AP to CuO ratio of 98:2 was as follows: with the ex-situ prepared experiments, the decomposition temperature decreased from 428 °C to 348 °C and the heat released increased from 344 J·g−1 to 1432 J·g−1, while those with the in-situ prepared samples exhibited 341 °C and 1317 J·g−1, respectively.
