Dear Colleagues,

Fire-retardant materials (FR) and surface treatments are important and crucial subjects due to increasing fire incidents in the public and industrial sectors. There are well-known segments such as electronics, packaged goods, construction and transportation, aerospace, industrial machinery transportation, motor vehicles, household accessories, textiles, wood, and other public and industrial utilities, where unlimited fire-vulnerable materials are used and can thus have inherent risk of fire. Most of these goods and products are either synthetically or naturally made of hydrocarbon‐based polymeric materials, which are highly vulnerable to fire. To cope with the issue, various materials have been investigated, such as halogenated flame retardants, phosphorus‐based flame retardants, nitrogen-based FR, biopolymers, nanocomposites, nanoparticle-based FR, fillers, etc. However, the quality, efficiency, environmental hazard, and price tradeoff of these materials is still a hot topic of research. Therefore, investigations are underway to find feasible and novel FR materials for the protection of these goods and products. Surface treatments are also essential in circumstances where mechanical properties are a priority and for natural products such as cotton, and thus, sophisticated fire-protective coatings are required. In this regard, spray coatings, sol–gel coating, dip coatings, LBL coatings. and other techniques are subjects of interest for the scientific community.   

This Special Issue is devoted to the most recent research on these topics, covering all the aspects concerning fire-retardant materials, fire-retardant coatings, and their relevant applications.

Prof. Dr. Bon Heun Koo
Dr. Zeeshan Ur Rehman
Prof. Dr. Jung-il Song
Guest Editors

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• Fire-retardant materials
• Fire-retardants coatings
• Synthesis methods
• Analysis of fire retardants
• Chemistry of fire-retardant materials
• Physics of fire-retardant materials
• Thermal properties of fire-retardant materials
• Novel modification
• Characterization techniques
• Biopolymer-based FR
• Layer by layer technique