Ceramic microthrusters with an embedded Pt resistive heater, two temperature sensors, and a Pt or Ag catalytic bed were made of high-temperature co-fired alumina ceramics. To increase the surface area by a factor of 1.21, and so the catalytic effect, the Pt catalytic bed was made porous by mixing the Pt paste with 15–20vol.% graphite sacrificial paste before screen printing it. Ag was in-situ electroplated on the porous Pt surface after sintering. Decomposition of 50wt.% hydrogen peroxide as a monopropellant was studied both qualitatively and quantitatively by changing the catalyst (between Ag and Pt), flow rate (15–55 μl/min), and operating temperature (115–300 °C). A reference device without catalyst exhibited an unstable behavior as a result of no, or very little, decomposition, whereas the Ag catalyst was more stable, and the Pt one even more stable. Also, Pt was found to be slightly more effective. Quantitatively, there were small differences between Pt and Ag in the power needed to maintain the temperature. The inventive methods to make the Pt bed porous as well as in-situ electroplating Ag were successfully demonstrated.

带有嵌入式Pt电阻加热器，两个温度传感器以及Pt或Ag催化床的陶瓷微型推进器是由高温共烧氧化铝陶瓷制成的。为了将表面积增加1.21倍，并提高催化效果，在丝网印刷之前，通过将Pt浆料与15-20vol％的石墨牺牲浆料混合，使Pt催化剂床成为多孔的。烧结后将Ag原位电镀在多孔Pt表面上。通过改变催化剂（Ag和Pt之间），流速（15-55μl/ min）和工作温度（115-300°C），定性和定量地研究了50wt。％过氧化氢作为单推进剂的分解。由于没有或很少分解，没有催化剂的参比装置表现出不稳定的行为，而Ag催化剂则更稳定，Pt更加稳定。而且，发现铂的效果更好。在数量上，保持温度所需的功率在Pt和Ag之间存在很小的差异。成功地证明了使Pt床具有多孔性以及就地电镀Ag的发明方法。