Issue 15, 2024

Self-evolutionary recycling of flame-retardant polyurethane foam enabled by controllable catalytic cleavage

Abstract

Polyurethane (PU) foams, pivotal in modern life, face challenges suh as fire hazards and environmental waste burdens. The current reliance of PU on potentially ecotoxic halogen-/phosphorus-based flame retardants impedes large-scale material recycling. Here, our demonstrated controllable catalytic cracking strategy, using cesium salts, enables self-evolving recycling of flame-retardant PU. The incorporation of cesium citrates facilitates efficient urethane bond cleavage at low temperatures (160 °C), promoting effective recycling, while encouraging pyrolytic rearrangement of isocyanates into char at high temperatures (300 °C) for enhanced PU fire safety. Even in the absence of halogen/phosphorus components, this foam exhibits a substantial increase in ignition time (+258.8%) and a significant reduction in total smoke release (−79%). This flame-retardant foam can be easily recycled into high-quality polyol under mild conditions, 60 °C lower than that for the pure foam. Notably, the trace amounts of cesium gathered in recycled polyols stimulate the regenerated PU to undergo self-evolution, improving both flame-retardancy and mechanical properties. Our controllable catalytic cracking strategy paves the way for the self-evolutionary recycling of high-performance firefighting materials.

Graphical abstract: Self-evolutionary recycling of flame-retardant polyurethane foam enabled by controllable catalytic cleavage

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
12 Jan 2024
Accepted
03 May 2024
First published
08 May 2024

Mater. Horiz., 2024,11, 3585-3594

Self-evolutionary recycling of flame-retardant polyurethane foam enabled by controllable catalytic cleavage

D. Fang, M. Chen, F. Zeng, S. Guo, L. He, B. Liu, S. Huang, H. Zhao and Y. Wang, Mater. Horiz., 2024, 11, 3585 DOI: 10.1039/D4MH00039K

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