Shaping the future of energetic materials: breakthroughs, barriers, and emerging frontiers

Energetic materials constitute a distinct category of functional compounds that combine the remarkable intensity of high-energy chemistry with the demanding requirements for safety, operational efficiency, and environmental responsibility. The field is currently undergoing a dynamic transformation, driven by an increasingly interdisciplinary approach that integrates synthetic organic chemistry, materials science, and computational design strategies. Despite significant progress, several critical challenges remain, including balancing high performance with low sensitivity, easy and cost-effective synthesis, and expanding the functional versatility of these materials. In this feature article, we present a comprehensive review of recent advances in nitrogen-rich energetic materials, emphasizing their structural diversity, synthetic strategies, and applications in primary explosives, insensitive secondary explosives, and thermally stable energetic systems. Apart from nitrogen-rich energetic compounds, special attention is given to emerging classes such as energetic coordination compounds and energetic metal-organic frameworks (EMOFs), which exemplify the convergence of molecular design with supramolecular architecture. We also discuss key physicochemical and performance parameters such as density, thermal stability, heat of formation, detonation pressure, detonation velocity, impact sensitivity, and friction sensitivity of representative compounds. Finally, we highlight current limitations and outline future directions for the development of safer, smarter, and more sustainable energetic materials through a deeper understanding of structure-property relationships.