Sustainability‐guided life‐cycle design and assessment for bio‐based composite foams: Integrate flame retardancy/lightweight in usage and energy utilization after service

Abstract

Sustainable development strategy has aroused a great interest in biomass resources as alternative raw materials. A kind of biomass‐derived poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), has been developed as porous foams to reduce resource exhaustion and meet lightweight demands. For fire‐safety in‐service, graphene oxide (GO) was functionalized by 9,10‐dihydro‐9‐oxa‐10‐phosphaphenanthrene‐10‐oxide (DOPO) to combine flame‐retardant elements and heat‐barrier function. Hence, a very low loading level of P‐containing GO as only 5 wt% could reduce peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release (THR) of PBS‐based foams by 58.5% and 22.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, N‐/P‐doped mesoporous char with a specific surface area of 136 m2/g, which derived from combustion of flame‐retardant foaming PBS, contributes to a potential of energy storage applications in the capacitor or the anode of Li‐ion battery with long‐term stability. Overall, the sustainability of bio‐based polyester could integrate lightweight of foaming, and be extended to utilization after use via facile combustion inspired by flame‐retardancy design.

Preparation and smoke suppression mechanism of flame‐retardant PBS composites with BNNS@DOPA

“…28,29 Hu et al 30 investigated the behavior of melt droplets in PBS composites and found that doping 10 wt% DOPO into PBS led to significantly improved ignition properties. Yue et al 31 prepared a PBS-based porous foam material with DOPO-functionalized graphene. The results showed that the PBS-based foam's total heat release rate (THR) and peak heat release rate (pHRR) were reduced by 22.3% and 58.5%, respectively.…”