Chemical micropropulsion. State of the art and catalyst surface requirements.

Different propellant types (solid, cold and hot gas, liquid) proposed for micropropulsion systems are reviewed. Liquid-substrate surface interactions are discussed, focusing on surface tension, viscosity and contact angle. A comparison between molecular and ionic liquids is presented and their relationship to microfluidics. The use of hydrophobic or superhydrophobic surface is of interest for microchanneled devices by decreasing the pressure drop. Such surfaces could be developed inside honeycomb monolith and the channel size could be tuned in the submillimeter range by finely controlling the washcoat procedure. Any further development of this field needs microfluidics data. An ideal set-up for a chemical, catalytic microthruster based on a single monolithic channel is proposed.

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