Producing sustainable flame-retardant room temperature phosphorescent materials from natural wood assisted by borax

Yingxiang Zhai; Jingyi Zhou; Haolin Bai; Bing Tian; Miaojun Xu; Shujun Li; Shouxin Liu; Tony D. James; Zhongfu An; Jian Li; Zhijun Chen

doi:10.1016/j.nxmate.2024.100278

Producing sustainable flame-retardant room temperature phosphorescent materials from natural wood assisted by borax

Yingxiang Zhai, Jingyi Zhou, Haolin Bai, Bing Tian, Miaojun Xu, Shujun Li, Shouxin Liu, Tony D. James, Zhongfu An, Jian Li, Zhijun Chen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (SciVal)

Abstract

Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and flame-retardant properties show great potential in a wide range of applications. However, such materials were rarely reported. Here, we found that the RTP of lignin is activated by borax. This is because borax forms non-covalent interaction with lignin, enhancing the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and restricting the vibration of lignin. Encouraged by this result, borax was introduced into a wood matrix (B-wood) to activate the RTP of naturally occurring lignin in a wood matrix with a lifetime of ∼263.1 ms. Moreover, B-wood displays V-0-level flame retardant properties, the highest level in UL-94 standard (typical standard in evaluating flame retardant properties). As a demonstration of potential applications, B-wood was processed into multifunctional wooden materials and films, which simultaneously exhibit flame retardant properties and generate RTP emission.

Original language	English
Article number	100278
Journal	Next Materials
Volume	6
Early online date	31 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxmate.2024.100278
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31890774, Z. C.) and the Natural Science Funding of Heilong Jiang province for Excellent Young Scholar (YQ2020C017, Z. C.). H. B. acknowledge the National Undergraduate Training Programs for Innovations (grant number 202210225318). T.D.J. wishes to thank the University of Bath and the Open Research Fund of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University (2020ZD01) for support.

Keywords

Borax
Flame-retardant
Natural wood
Room temperature phosphorescence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Engineering (miscellaneous)
General Materials Science

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10.1016/j.nxmate.2024.100278Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Producing sustainable flame-retardant room temperature phosphorescent materials from natural wood assisted by borax",

abstract = "Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and flame-retardant properties show great potential in a wide range of applications. However, such materials were rarely reported. Here, we found that the RTP of lignin is activated by borax. This is because borax forms non-covalent interaction with lignin, enhancing the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and restricting the vibration of lignin. Encouraged by this result, borax was introduced into a wood matrix (B-wood) to activate the RTP of naturally occurring lignin in a wood matrix with a lifetime of ∼263.1 ms. Moreover, B-wood displays V-0-level flame retardant properties, the highest level in UL-94 standard (typical standard in evaluating flame retardant properties). As a demonstration of potential applications, B-wood was processed into multifunctional wooden materials and films, which simultaneously exhibit flame retardant properties and generate RTP emission.",

keywords = "Borax, Flame-retardant, Natural wood, Room temperature phosphorescence",

author = "Yingxiang Zhai and Jingyi Zhou and Haolin Bai and Bing Tian and Miaojun Xu and Shujun Li and Shouxin Liu and James, {Tony D.} and Zhongfu An and Jian Li and Zhijun Chen",

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doi = "10.1016/j.nxmate.2024.100278",

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AU - Zhai, Yingxiang

AU - Zhou, Jingyi

AU - Bai, Haolin

AU - Tian, Bing

AU - Xu, Miaojun

AU - Li, Shujun

AU - Liu, Shouxin

AU - James, Tony D.

AU - An, Zhongfu

AU - Li, Jian

AU - Chen, Zhijun

PY - 2025/1/1

Y1 - 2025/1/1

N2 - Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and flame-retardant properties show great potential in a wide range of applications. However, such materials were rarely reported. Here, we found that the RTP of lignin is activated by borax. This is because borax forms non-covalent interaction with lignin, enhancing the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and restricting the vibration of lignin. Encouraged by this result, borax was introduced into a wood matrix (B-wood) to activate the RTP of naturally occurring lignin in a wood matrix with a lifetime of ∼263.1 ms. Moreover, B-wood displays V-0-level flame retardant properties, the highest level in UL-94 standard (typical standard in evaluating flame retardant properties). As a demonstration of potential applications, B-wood was processed into multifunctional wooden materials and films, which simultaneously exhibit flame retardant properties and generate RTP emission.

AB - Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and flame-retardant properties show great potential in a wide range of applications. However, such materials were rarely reported. Here, we found that the RTP of lignin is activated by borax. This is because borax forms non-covalent interaction with lignin, enhancing the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and restricting the vibration of lignin. Encouraged by this result, borax was introduced into a wood matrix (B-wood) to activate the RTP of naturally occurring lignin in a wood matrix with a lifetime of ∼263.1 ms. Moreover, B-wood displays V-0-level flame retardant properties, the highest level in UL-94 standard (typical standard in evaluating flame retardant properties). As a demonstration of potential applications, B-wood was processed into multifunctional wooden materials and films, which simultaneously exhibit flame retardant properties and generate RTP emission.

KW - Borax

KW - Flame-retardant

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ER -

Producing sustainable flame-retardant room temperature phosphorescent materials from natural wood assisted by borax

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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