Functionalized graphene oxide for fire safety applications of polymers: a combination of condensed phase flame retardant strategies

Abstract

Graphene is promising for the fire safety applications of polymers, but the ease of burn out limits further developments. A novel strategy based on functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) is developed to overcome this challenge. Graphene oxide is functionalized with char-catalyzing agents and reactive compounds and incorporated into polystyrene. When FGO-polystyrene composites are degraded or burned, FGO catalyzes the char formation from polystyrene (Char A). Char A protects FGO from burning out and then FGO acts as a graphitic char (Char B). Because of the combination of Char A, Char B, the physical barrier effects of FGO, and the strong interfacial interactions of FGO and polymers, the fire safety properties of the FGO-polystyrene composites are improved, including decreased peak CO release rate (66% decrease), decreased peak CO 2 release rate (54% decrease), decreased peak heat release rate (53% decrease), decreased thermal degradation rate (30% decrease), decreased total heat release (38% decrease), and increased char formation (7 times), etc. This strategy combines several condensed phase flame retardant strategies such as the nanocomposite technique, intumescent flame retardant systems and phosphorus-nitrogen synergism systems, and hence results in more significant improvements as compared with prior work.

Fabrication of Ce-doped MnO2decorated graphene sheets for fire safety applications of epoxy composites: flame retardancy, smoke suppression and mechanism

“…7), it can be clearly seen that the addition of Ce-MnO2-GNS or GNS notably decreases the maximum mass loss rate (the peak of DTG curves) compared to that of pure EP, implying the mass barrier effect of GNS. 45 Cone calorimetry is a widely used method for measuring the flammability of various materials in real-world fire. 46 The heat release rate (HRR) and peak heat release rate (THR) curves for EP and its nanocomposites are shown in Fig.…”

Graphene-based flame retardants: a review

“…They are formed from substances that can be covalently bonded to graphene, such as hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP) [75], phenyl dichlorophosphate (PDCP) [76], hyperbranched cyclotriphosphazene polymer [77,78], organophosphorus oligomer [79], N-aminoethyl piperazine [80], silicon-phosphorus oligomer [81], phenyl-bis-(triethoxysilylpropyl) phosphamide [82], ionic liquidcontaining phosphonium [83] and 1-oxo-4-hydroxymethyl-2,6,7-trioxa-1-phosphabicyclo [2,2,2] octane (PEPA) [84]. Bao et al [75] made use of in situ polymerization to functionalize GO with HCCP which acts as a char-catalysing agent (Fig. 9).…”

A Large‐Area, Flexible, and Flame‐Retardant Graphene Paper

“…Figure 2 e presents the high-resolution XPS C 1s spectra of GO-HCCP, we could observe the appearance of the C−O−P to further verify the strong covalent cross-linking between GO and HCCP molecules, which was consistent with the IR spectra. [ 20 ] The typical strain-stress curves of GO-HCCP paper are shown in Figure 2 f. Adding appropriate amount of HCCP molecules to GO fl akes to increase the tensile strength of GO-HCCP (the mass ration ratio of GO: HCCP is 1: 0.5) paper can greatly improve the mechanical properties. Furthermore, a wrinkled surface texture, as shown in Figure 1 e, could create mechanical interlocking and load transfer between GO fl akes and HCCP molecules, leading to an improved mechanical strength.…”