Comparative Study on the Flame Retardancy and Retarding Mechanism of Rare Earth (La, Ce, and Y)-Based Organic Frameworks on Epoxy Resin

In this work, a series of rare earth-based metal–organic frameworks (RE-MOFs) with the same organic ligand were synthesized and studied as flame retardants on epoxy. Through thermogravimetric analysis, limiting oxide index, UL-94, and cone calorimeter tests, a Y-based MOF (Y-MOF) showed the best flame retardancy compared with a La-based MOF (La-MOF) and Ce-based MOF (Ce-MOF). Further research with Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and theoretical calculation revealed that the reasons for the different flame retardance performances of RE-MOFs resulted from the catalytic carbonizing abilities and the radical-trapping abilities of La, Ce, and Y.