Cleaner production to a multifunctional polyurethane sponge with high fire safety and low toxicity release.

Conductive polymer composites have been caught increasing attentions in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding field. Due to the flammability of polymer and long-term high power working status, fire incidents on environment and human health must be taken into consideration during the preparation of the polymer materials. Thus, developing an EM waves-clean material with exceptional fire safety and smoke suppression capacity is the vital issue. In this article, a facile and eco-friendly approach to fabricate flame retardant polyurethane (PU) sponge was carried out by layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly with octaammonium-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OAPOSS) and titanium carbide (Ti 3 C 2 T x) nanosheets. With the help of silicane and the barrier effect from Ti 3 C 2 T x , the peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release (THR) decreased by 50%. Thanks to the exceeding catalytic capacity of Ti 3 C 2 T x nanoflakes, the production of harmful smokes or gases such as carbon oxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) were sharply reduced with 71% and 27%, respectively. Furthermore, the flame retardant PU sponge obtained electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding capacity after dip-coating procedure in MXene dispersion owing to the excellent electrical conductivity of Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets. The EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) accomplished 32.57 dB and still remained 27.63 dB after 300 times compression. Therefore, this work could provide a promising way to accomplish flame retardant PU sponge with superior smoke suppression capacity, which could be used in cleaner production of modern electronics and EMI shielding materials. [Display omitted] • The facile cleaner approach to obtain multifunctional polyurethane (PU) sponge. • OAPOSS@MXene nanocoating was constructed on PU sponge via a clean layer-by-layer method. • The peak heat release rate and CO production was decreased by >50% and 71%, respectively. • Electromagnetic interference shielding capability remained >85% after 300 times compression. • Toxic fire effluents release-cleaner, electromagnetic waves-cleaner production of PU sponge were achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]