Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MOFMAP (Tailored Metal-Organic Framework: From Hybrid to Multifunctional Flame Retardant Polymer Nanocomposites)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2017-01-09 do 2019-01-08
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have been prototyped as polymer additives. The resulting composite materials have been tested in a number of applications exploiting the material porosity, e.g. gas separation, nanofiltration, capture of VOC, and have been shown to exhibit better performance than those of their individual components. It has been also recognized that MOFs themselves exhibit some flame retardant properties as the metal centers within their structure can promote char formation during the combustion of the composite. However, the fire resistant effect of MOFs is limited with respect to molecular FRs which can also offer more fire suppression mechanism by quenching the combustion reactions or forming a non-flammable layer on the burning material. Conveniently, due to their intrinsic porosity, such molecular flame retardants can be incorporated into MOFs as functional guest molecules.
In this project, we aim to develop multifunctional intelligently flame retardant polymeric materials which have significantly impact on new generation polymer-based products in varied application fields. Combing the research background of the researcher, we are developing MOF and its functionalized hybrids as a new generation of polymer composites (figure 1) which have been proved by varies characterizations that this type of additive functions with good efficiency in the improvement of fire retardancy and mechanical properties of polymeric composites. At the same time, the working mechanism of each component are investigated from the perspective of molecular structure.
Furthermore, as our investigation went more deeply, by loading four types of phosphorous flame retardant into the pore system of MOF, four types polymer additives have been prepared and embedded into the life indispensable unsaturated polyester, getting a series of polymer composites 1·PFRx/UP. Systematic investigation of their fire behaviors and mechanical properties prove that the lone-pair electrons on phosphorous atom play an important role in flame retardancy and mechanical reinforcement. At the same time, their effectivity is also influenced by the chemical environment of the phosphorous atom. The preparation of polymer additive with loading PFR in MOF not only presents a liable platform to shed light on the function of high reactive PFR in polymer, but also extends the application area of these compounds by avoiding the unwanted reactions during the process procedure.