Intelligent cyclic fire warning sensor based on hybrid PBO nanofiber and montmorillonite nanocomposite papers decorated with phenyltriethoxysilane

Wen-Yu Hu; Ke-Xin Yu; Qi-Na Zheng; Qi-Liang Hu; Cheng-Fei Cao; Kun Cao; Weifu Sun; Jie-Feng Gao; Yongqian Shi; Pingan Song; Long-Cheng Tang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.119

Intelligent cyclic fire warning sensor based on hybrid PBO nanofiber and montmorillonite nanocomposite papers decorated with phenyltriethoxysilane

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Oct:647:467-477. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.119. Epub 2023 May 21.

Authors

Wen-Yu Hu¹, Ke-Xin Yu¹, Qi-Na Zheng¹, Qi-Liang Hu¹, Cheng-Fei Cao¹, Kun Cao², Weifu Sun³, Jie-Feng Gao⁴, Yongqian Shi⁵, Pingan Song⁶, Long-Cheng Tang⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Material, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, School of Mechatronic Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address: weifu.sun@bit.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225002, China.
⁵ College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China.
⁶ Centre for Future Materials, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Campus, QLD 4300, Australia.
⁷ College of Material, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China. Electronic address: lctang@hznu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37271091
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.119

Abstract

An abundance of early warning graphene-based nano-materials and sensors have been developed to avoid and prevent the critical fire risk of combustible materials. However, there are still some limitations that should be addressed, such as the black color, high-cost and single fire warning response of graphene-based fire warning materials. Herein, we report an unexpected montmorillonite (MMT)-based intelligent fire warning materials that have excellent fire cyclic warning performance and reliable flame retardancy. Combining phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES) molecules, poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) nanofiber (PBONF), and layers of MMT to form a silane crosslinked 3D nanonetwork system, the homologous PTES decorated MMT-PBONF nanocomposites are designed and fabricated via a sol-gel process and low temperature self-assembly method. The optimized nanocomposite paper shows good mechanical flexibility (good recovery after kneading or bending process), high tensile strength of ∼81 MPa and good water resistance. Furthermore, the nanocomposite paper exhibits high-temperature flame resistance (almost unchanged structure and size after 120 s combustion), sensitive flame alarm response (∼0.3 s response once exposure onto a flame), cyclic fire warning performance (>40 cycles), and adaptability to complex fire situations (several fire attack and evacuation scenarios), showing promising applications for monitoring the critical fire risk of combustible materials. Therefore, this work paves a rational way for design and fabrication of MMT-based smart fire warning materials that combine excellent flame shielding and sensitive fire alarm functions.

Keywords: Fire cyclic warning; Flame retardancy; Montmorillonite; PBO nanofiber; Silane modification.