Novel carbon nitride@polydopamine/molybdenum disulfide nanoflame retardant improves fire performance of composite coatings

An effective method to enhance the flame retardant capability of intumescent fire retardant (IFR) coatings by constructed a two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) hybrid with good composition and microstructure. Herein, g-C3N4@PDA (CNP) was firstly obtained by loading graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with bio-inspired polydopamine (PDA). Subsequently, a novel [email protected] hybrids was successfully prepared by loading molybdenum disulfide onto the CNP surface via a simple one-step hydrothermal method. Then, the obtained [email protected] was added to the IFR coating as a synergist to improve the flame resistance. Results indicated that the addition of 2 wt% [email protected] to the coating effectively accelerated the formation of the char layer and reinforced its thermal insulation properties. The [email protected]/EP sample exhibited the lowest backside temperature (179.6 ℃), the highest expansion ratio (10.53) and the most residual char (30.7%) by fire performance test, furnace test and TGA test. The combustion performance of the IFR coatings was investigated by cone calorimeter, and the results showed that the [email protected] hybrids based composite coating exhibited the lowest heat release rate (HRR), total heat release rate (THR), and total smoke production value (TSP). The mechanism investigations showed that the physical barrier effect and catalytic carbonization produced by [email protected] hybrids during the combustion process are the main reasons for the improved flame retardancy of epoxy coatings.