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Energetic salts offer many advantages over conventional energetic molecular compounds. The use of nitrogen containing anions and cations contributes to high heats of formations and high densities. Their low carbon and hydrogen content gives rise to a good oxygen balance. The decomposition of these compounds is predominantly through the generation of dinitrogen which makes them very promising candidates for highly energetic materials for industrial or military applications.

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Volume parameters for room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and salts were developed. For 59 of the most common imidazolium, pyridinium, pyrrolidinium, tetralkylammonium, and phosphonium-based RTILs, the mean absolute deviation (MAD) of the densities is 0.007 g cm-3; for 35 imidazolium-based room-temperature salts, the MAD is 0.020 g cm-3; and for 150 energetic salts, the MAD is 0.035 g cm-3. The experimental density (Y) for an alkylated imidazolium or pyridinium-based room-temperature ionic liquid is approximately proportional to its calculated density (X) in the solid state: Y = 0.948X - 0.110 (correlation coefficient: R2 = 0.998, for BF4-, PF6-, NTf2- -containing ionic liquids); Y = 0.934X - 0.070 (correlation coefficient: R2 = 0.999, for OTf-, CF3CO2-, N(CN)2- -containing ionic liquids).

Among energetic materials, there are two significant challenges facing researchers: 1) to develop ionic CHNO explosives with higher densities than their parent nonionic molecules and (2) to achieve a fine balance between high detonation performance and low sensitivity. We report a surprising energetic salt, hydroxylammonium 3-dinitromethanide-1,2,4-triazolone, that exhibits exceptional properties, viz., higher density, superior detonation performance, and improved thermal, impact, and friction stabilities, then those of its precursor, 3-dinitromethyl-1,2,4-triazolone. The solid-state structure features of the new energetic salt were investigated with X-ray diffraction which showed π-stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions that contribute to closer packing and higher density. According to the experimental results and theoretical analysis, the newly designed energetic salt also gives rise to a workable compromise in high detonation properties and desirable stabilities. These findings will enhance the future prospects for rational energetic materials design and commence a new chapter in this field.