molecules-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Recent Advances in Flame Retardant Polymeric Materials, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 486

Special Issue Editor

College of Emergency Management, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, China
Interests: flame retardant; synthesis; organophosphorus compound; polymer; fire safe material; flame retardant mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymeric materials are widely used in every corner of modern life. Even though various materials involve polymers, most of them are combustible due to their nature of high contents of C and H elements. With the increasing concern of fire hazards and increasingly strict laws and regulations, flame-retardant polymeric materials have seen rapid development in recent decades. Nowadays, aside from some specific, banned halogen-containing flame retardants, researchers generally focus on flame retardants containing phosphorus, nitrogen, silicon, boron, etc. When superior flame retardancy is achieved by polymeric materials, researchers look to improve other properties, such as thermal, mechanical, dielectric, electromagnetic shielding, and electrochemistry attributes, to obtain polymers with good comprehensive performance. Furthermore, fire-safe polymeric nanocomposites are always prepared with low loading and property enhancement.

This Special Issue is designed to gather scientific papers about recent advances in flame retardant polymeric materials. Contributions are invited on all themes, including but not limited to the synthesis of new flame retardants, polymers with excellent flame retardancy, multifunctional flame-retardant polymers, study of flame-retardant mechanisms, and flame-retardant polymeric nanocomposites. Full papers, short communications, and review articles presenting and discussing the most recent trends in these areas are welcome.

Dr. Chao Ma
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymeric materials
  • flame retardants
  • synthesis
  • multifunctionality
  • mechanisms
  • nanocomposites

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 19309 KiB  
Article
Morphology-Engineered CeO2 as a Synergistic Flame Retardant in Polypropylene/Intumescent Systems: Mechanisms and Performance Enhancement
by Bangmin Li, Wayne Hsu, Tingyi Zheng, Yincai Wu, Shenglong Wang, Fenglong Lin, Lijun Song and Xianfa Rao
Molecules 2025, 30(10), 2102; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30102102 - 9 May 2025
Viewed by 268
Abstract
This study systematically examines the effect of the morphology of cerium oxide (CeO2) on the flame retardancy, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites with intumescent flame retardant (PP/IFR). Layer-CeO2 (L-CeO2) outperforms Particulate-CeO2 (P-CeO2) [...] Read more.
This study systematically examines the effect of the morphology of cerium oxide (CeO2) on the flame retardancy, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites with intumescent flame retardant (PP/IFR). Layer-CeO2 (L-CeO2) outperforms Particulate-CeO2 (P-CeO2) in enhancing the flame retardancy of PP/IFR composites, showing higher limiting oxygen index (LOI) and greater reductions in the total heat release rate (THR) and total smoke production (TSR). The substitution of 1% IFR with 1% L-CeO2 significantly increased the LOI from 29.4% to 32.6%, while reducing the THR and TSR by 38.9% and 74.3%, respectively. L-CeO2 incorporation improves thermal stability, increasing the residual char yield to 8.53% at 800 °C under air (vs. 3.87% for PP/IFR). Additionally, L-CeO2 improved the mechanical properties of the composites, increasing tensile strength and rigidity. The synergistic flame-retardant mechanism is hypothesized to involve CeO2 catalyzing the formation of a P-O-C crosslinked network in the carbon layer, leading to a denser carbon structure and improved flame-retardant performance in the PP/IFR composites. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of L-CeO2 as a flame-retardant synergist, providing a foundation for developing fire-safe polymeric materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flame Retardant Polymeric Materials, 2nd Edition)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop