Phosphorus-Free and Self-Extinguishing Cellulose Paper Achieved via Short-Chain Carboxylate-Functionalized Mn/Ni Nanoparticles

Addressing the practical predicament of uneven global distribution of phosphate resources, this study focuses on transition-metal-based short-chain perfluorocarboxylates (Mn-TFA and Ni-TFA) and systematically investigates their flame-retardant properties, aiming to develop efficient novel phosphorus-free flame retardants. The results of micromorphological characterization indicate that Mn-TFA forms a porous network structure, and Ni-TFA exhibits a polyhedral morphology, both of which possess distinct crystallinity attributed to the coordination interaction between metal ions and carboxylate groups. Flame-retardant performance evaluation demonstrates that samples display excellent flame-retardant effects: their flame-retardant performance is significantly superior to that of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (the core active component of commercial flame retardants) at all tested concentrations. Particularly under medium-concentration loading conditions, the flame-retardant paper can achieve a self-extinguishing effect. The results of TG-IR-MS combined analysis show that the generation rates of CO and CO2 in the fuel system are significantly accelerated under the action of the flame retardants, indicating that the flame-retardant process is dominated by the condensed-phase effect.