Ultra-thin flame retardant polymer nanocomposite coating based on synergistic effect of graphene and glass sheets

It is still a high challenge to develop environmental-friendly and highly efficient flame retardant for application in thin polymer coating. Here, a graphene@glass sheets composite flame retardant is developed and prepared by a new in-situ liquid-phase exfoliation process. When the flame retardant is doped into polymer coating, it exhibits excellent flame retardancy for flammable plastic, wood and nonflammable steel. The limiting oxygen index (ca.32.3%) and UL-94 V-0 rating of a ultra-thin polymer coating (ca.65 um) can be obtained for fire protection of wood. The long fire-retardant time (55.0min) is also observed, which is far longer than that of the conventional polymer coating (1.0 min) for fire protection of steel. This work provides a new strategy for creating cost-effective thin flame retardant polymer coatings for various industrial applications.