Multifunctional intelligent fireproof cotton fabrics are urgently demanded in the era of the Internet of Things. Herein, a novel high fire safety cotton fabric (denoted as MXene/CCS@CF) with temperature sensing, fire-warning, piezoresistivity, and Joule heating performance was developed by coating MXene nanosheet and carboxymethyl chitosan (CCS) via an eco-friendly layer-by-layer assembly method. Benefiting from the thermoelectric characteristic and high conductivity of MXene nanosheet, MXene/CCS@CF exhibited accurate wide-range temperature sensing performance. When being burned, it could repeatedly trigger the fire-warning system in less than 10 s. More importantly, MXene/CCS@CF showed outstanding flame retardancy because of the synergistic carbonization between MXene and CCS. The limiting oxygen index of MXene/CCS@CF was as high as 45.5%, and the char length was only 33 mm after the vertical burning test. Meanwhile, its peak heat release rate reduced more than 66%. Besides, the obtained fabric could detect a variety of human motions. Moreover, the controllable Joule heating performance enabled the fabric to be used in extreme cold weather. This work provides a facile approach to fabricating a next-generation high fire safety cotton fabric, showing promising applications in firefighting, home automation, and smart transportation.

Multifunctional MXene/Chitosan-Coated Cotton Fabric for Intelligent Fire Protection.

Functional covalent organic framework for exceptional Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ removal: An upcycling strategy to achieve water decontamination and reutilization as smoke suppressant and flame retardant simultaneously

High fire hazard of releasing considerable toxicants and heat is regarded as a notorious issue for hindering the further application of epoxy resin (EP). Hence, a hierarchical structure (MLBCN) based on LDH anchored boron-doped g-C3N4 assembled with MnO2 nanosheets is rationally constructed as flame retardant additive for EP. Concretely, the incorporation of 1.0 wt% MLBCN leads to the decreases of 31.9% and 25.3% in peak heat release rate and total heat release, separately, reflecting the impeded heat release. Meanwhile, the peak smoke production rate and total smoke release are reduced by 37.1% and 33.4%, respectively, corroborating the hindered fire toxicity. The clear evidence for inhibited emissions of toxic CO and NO gases can be acquired from TG-IR spectra. These results collectively confirm the efficacy of MLBCN in reducing the toxicants generation and fire hazard of EP, deriving from its physical barrier, chemical catalyzing and charring promotion actions. Besides, the tensile and flexural strength are improved by 43.9% and 10.6%, by adding 1.0 wt% MLBCN, demonstrating the promoted mechanical performance. Overall, using MLBCN achieves the simultaneous enhancements in fire safety and mechanical capability of polymer. This work may provide valuable inspirations for constructing multicomponent hierarchical structure, optimizing their prospects in polymer-matrix composite and other areas.

Constructing hierarchical structure based on LDH anchored boron-doped g-C3N4 assembled with MnO2 nanosheets towards reducing toxicants generation and fire hazard of epoxy resin

Firefighting protective clothing is an essential equipment that can protect firefighters from burn injuries during the firefighting process. However, it is still a challenge to detect the damage of firefighting protective clothing at an early stage when firefighters are exposed to excessively high temperature in fire cases. Herein, an ultralight self-powered fire alarm electronic textile (SFA e-textile) based on conductive aerogel fiber that comprises calcium alginate (CA), Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs), and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) was developed, which achieved ultrasensitive temperature monitoring and energy harvesting in firefighting clothing. The resulting SFA e-textile was integrated into firefighting protective clothing to realize wide-range temperature sensing at 100-400 °C and repeatable fire warning capability, which could timely transmit an alarm signal to the wearer before the firefighting protective clothing malfunctioned in extreme fire environments. In addition, a self-powered fire self-rescue location system was further established based on the SFA e-textile that can help rescuers search and rescue trapped firefighters in fire cases. The power in the self-powered fire location system was offered by an SFA e-textile-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). This work provided a useful design strategy for the preparation of ultralight wearable temperature-monitoring SFA e-textile used in firefighting protective clothing.

An Ultralight Self-Powered Fire Alarm e-Textile Based on Conductive Aerogel Fiber with Repeatable Temperature Monitoring Performance Used in Firefighting Clothing.

High fire hazard of releasing considerable toxicants and heat is regarded as a notorious issue for hindering the further application of epoxy resin (EP). Hence, a hierarchical structure (MLBCN) based on LDH anchored boron-doped g-C3N4 assembled with MnO2 nanosheets is rationally constructed as flame retardant additive for EP. Concretely, the incorporation of 1.0 wt% MLBCN leads to the decreases of 31.9% and 25.3% in peak heat release rate and total heat release, separately, reflecting the impeded heat release. Meanwhile, the peak smoke production rate and total smoke release are reduced by 37.1% and 33.4%, respectively, corroborating the hindered fire toxicity. The clear evidence for inhibited emissions of toxic CO and NO gases can be acquired from TG-IR spectra. These results collectively confirm the efficacy of MLBCN in reducing the toxicants generation and fire hazard of EP, deriving from its physical barrier, chemical catalyzing and charring promotion actions. Besides, the tensile and flexural strength are improved by 43.9% and 10.6%, by adding 1.0 wt% MLBCN, demonstrating the promoted mechanical performance. Overall, using MLBCN achieves the simultaneous enhancements in fire safety and mechanical capability of polymer. This work may provide valuable inspirations for constructing multicomponent hierarchical structure, optimizing their prospects in polymer-matrix composite and other areas. 

Boyu Zuo

Papers

Nacre-like graphene oxide paper bonded with boric acid for fire early-warning sensor.

Flame‐retardant cellulose nanofiber aerogel modified with graphene oxide and sodium montmorillonite and its fire‐alarm application