It is challenging to efficiently ignite traditional liquid hydrocarbons when they are applied in extreme combustion conditions, e.g., scramjet combustor. In this study, the low-temperature ignition enhancement performance of fuel additives of various properties and concentrations in n-decane were investigated theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical results indicate that there exists an optimized relationship between the effective activation energy and vaporization rate. Based on the optimization study, a novel design method for composite fuel additives was proposed. With this method, a metallic organic compound blended with a low-boiling-point auxiliary, methoxydiethylborane/tetrahydrofuran (MDEB/THF) solution, was employed to modify the ignition performance of n-decane. Thermogravimetry analysis and droplet-hot plate impinging experiment were performed to characterize the vaporization rate, ignition temperature, and ignition delay time of n-decane-based hybrid fuels. The experimental results suggest that, at a high concentration of MDEB/THF fuel droplets, the minimal ignition surface temperature is reduced to 160 degrees C, which is approximately 500 degrees C lower than that of pure n-decane. The ignition delay time of the fuel droplet is diminished from 353 ms to 45 ms at a surface temperature of 500 degrees C. Moreover, controlling the low-temperature ignition performance of an n-decane-based hybrid fuels by mixing various proportions of the additive was confirmed to be feasible. The results obtained from this study are of great significance in jet propellant design. (C) 2017 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.