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Fire Safe, Sustainable and Smart Polymer-Based Materials: Frontiers in Science and Technology

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 4896

Special Issue Editors

Head of High Performance Polymer Nanocomposites Group, IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel, 2, 28906 Getafe, Madrid, Spain
Interests: high performance polymeric materials; fire retardant materials; functional nanocomposites; fire behaviors and mechanisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel, 2, 28906 Getafe, Madrid, Spain
Interests: biodegradable polymers; smart materials; phase change materials; functional nanomaterials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Interest in smart multifunctional nanocomposites has been steadily increasing over the past decades. The number of corresponding multifunctional materials increases with the ongoing development, and so do the fire safety concerns associated with their wide applications. In addition, rising environmental concerns and the depletion of petrochemical resources have resulted in an increased interest in bio-renewable polymer-based environmentally friendly materials. The field of safe, sustainable and smart materials (3S materials), with all its traditionalism and multidisciplinarity, has profited from the corresponding development. However, the specific features of this field have led to a considerable scattering of the literary sources and a lack of mutual information between all the relevant subjects. This Special Issue will help to overcome these problems and provide an excellent opportunity for publishing the latest advances in the relevant research fields. Full papers, review articles, and communications are all welcome. The topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Sustainable polymers and/or corresponding nanocomposites;
  • Smart materials for sensing;
  • Shape memory polymers;
  • Phase change materials for thermal management or energy harvesting;
  • Eco-benign multifunctional halogen-free fire-retardant materials;
  • Fire behaviors and fire-retarding mechanisms;
  • Polymeric nanocomposite processing and manufacturing;
  • High-performance bio-based polymers and composites.

Prof. Dr. De-Yi Wang
Dr. Guangzhong Yin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • phase change materials
  • bio-based polymers
  • flame retardant
  • energy storage
  • multi-functional materials
  • nano-engineering
  • polymer nanocomposites
  • smart materials
  • sustainability
  • sensors

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 5300 KiB  
Article
Synergistic Effect of Cerium Oxide for Improving the Fire-Retardant, Mechanical and Ultraviolet-Blocking Properties of EVA/Magnesium Hydroxide Composites
by Jose Hobson, Guang-Zhong Yin, Xiaoli Yu, Xiaodong Zhou, Silvia Gonzalez Prolongo, Xiang Ao and De-Yi Wang
Materials 2022, 15(17), 5867; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15175867 - 25 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1710
Abstract
Rare earth oxide particles have received important attention in recent years, and due to the wide diversity of promising applications, the need for this kind of material is predicted to expand as the requirements to use the current resources become more demanding. In [...] Read more.
Rare earth oxide particles have received important attention in recent years, and due to the wide diversity of promising applications, the need for this kind of material is predicted to expand as the requirements to use the current resources become more demanding. In this work, cerium oxide (CeO2) was introduced into ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)/magnesium hydroxide (MDH) composites for enhancing the flame retardancy, mechanical properties and anti-ultraviolet aging performance. The target EVA/MDH/CeO2 composites were prepared by extrusion and injection molding, and the effects of the addition of the CeO2 were explored by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94, cone calorimetry test, and anti-ultraviolet aging test. Typically, the incorporation of the CeO2 allows a significant increase of the elongation at break and Young’s modulus compared with EVA/MDH by 52.25% and 6.85%, respectively. The pHRR remarkably decreased from 490.6 kW/m2 for EVA/MDH to 354.4 kW/m2 for EVA/MDH/CeO2 composite. It was found that the CeO2 presents excellent synergism with MDH in the composites for the anti-UV properties in terms of mechanical properties preservation. Notably, the combination of CeO2 with MDH is a novel and simple method to improve the filler–polymer interaction and dispersion, which resulted in the improvement of the mechanical properties, flame retardancy and the anti-ultraviolet aging performance of the composites. Full article
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13 pages, 4369 KiB  
Article
Surface Modification of Ammonium Polyphosphate for Enhancing Flame-Retardant Properties of Thermoplastic Polyurethane
by Zhiwen Wang, Yan Jiang, Xiaomei Yang, Junhuan Zhao, Wanlu Fu, Na Wang and De-Yi Wang
Materials 2022, 15(6), 1990; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15061990 - 08 Mar 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2574
Abstract
Currently, the development of efficient and environmentally friendly flame-retardant thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite materials has caused extensive research. Ammonium polyphosphate (APP) is used as a general intumescent flame retardant to improve the flame retardancy of TPU. In this paper, we developed a functionalized [...] Read more.
Currently, the development of efficient and environmentally friendly flame-retardant thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite materials has caused extensive research. Ammonium polyphosphate (APP) is used as a general intumescent flame retardant to improve the flame retardancy of TPU. In this paper, we developed a functionalized APP flame retardant (APP-Cu@PDA). Adding only 5 wt% of APP-Cu@PDA into TPU can significantly improve the flame-retardant’s performance of the composite material, reflected by a high LOI value of 28% with a UL-94 test of V-0 rating. Compared with pure TPU, the peak heat release rate, total heat release, peak smoke release rate, and total smoke release were reduced by 82%, 25%, 50%, and 29%, respectively. The improvements on the flame-retardant properties of the TPU/5%APP-Cu@PDA composites were due to the following explanations: Cu2+-chelated PDA has a certain catalytic effect on the carbonization process, which can promote the formation of complete carbon layers and hinder the transfer of heat and oxygen. In addition, after adding 5% APP-Cu@PDA, the tensile strength and elongation at the break of TPU composites did not decrease significantly. In summary, we developed a new flame-retardant APP-Cu@PDA, which has better flame-retardant properties than many reported TPU composites, and its preparation process is simple and environmentally friendly. This process can be applied to the industrial production of flame retardants in the future. Full article
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