【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】Significant progress has been made in the research of nanoscale black phosphorus-based flame-retardant polymer composites at Kunming University of Science and Technology

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On April 6, Kunming University of Science and Technology reported that the phosphorus chemistry research team from its School of Chemical Engineering has made significant progress recently in the field of nanoscale black phosphorus-based flame-retardant polymer composites, offering new approaches for the conversion of green energy and the development of multifunctional composites. The international journal in the field of materials and energy, Advanced Energy Materials, published the relevant findings. Currently, phase-change energy storage systems have become a focal point of research in the field of efficient solar heat utilization, thanks to their high heat storage density and excellent temperature control capabilities. Among them, organic phase change materials, with fatty acids as a typical example, have attracted widespread attention due to their high phase transition enthalpy, good chemical stability, and tunable phase transition temperature range. However, such materials suffer from issues such as low thermal conductivity, leakage during phase transition, the lack of a photothermal conversion medium, and high flammability in practical applications, making it difficult for them to meet the requirements for long-term stable operation in complex environments. “As a two-dimensional phosphorus-containing nanomaterial, black phosphorene possesses excellent wide-spectrum absorption capabilities, high-efficiency photothermal conversion properties, and intrinsic flame-retardant characteristics, making it highly promising for use in high-performance flame-retardant composite phase change materials. ”Xie Delong, a professor at Kunming University of Science and Technology, explained that black phosphorene is prone to degradation in environments with high oxygen levels, humidity, and light exposure, which in turn leads to structural instability and a decline in its functionality ； At the same time, using only black phosphorene as the functional component makes it difficult to achieve both the construction of a stable three-dimensional support structure and efficient encapsulation, which limits the multifunctional integrated applications of composite phase change systems. To address this series of challenges, Xiedelong’s team collaborated with Professor Sheng Xinxin’s team from Guangdong University of Technology to utilize the oriented microchannels in natural wood as a framework for creating nanoscale black phosphorus-based functional hybrid interfaces, and proposed interface engineering strategies for their regulation. By introducing a metal-polysaccharide network \"armor\" on the surface of black phosphorene, researchers improved its environmental stability and enhanced its interfacial adhesion to phase-change materials, achieving simultaneous optimization of both structure and compatibility. Experimental data show that the composite phase change material prepared by this method exhibits excellent performance: its latent heat storage capacity is 175.03 kJ per kilogram, the photothermal conversion efficiency is 91.27%, and its axial thermal conductivity is 3.9 times higher than that of pure phase change materials ； In terms of flame retardancy, the peak heat release and total heat release of the material were reduced by 27.4% and 31.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the material possesses superhydrophobic self-cleaning and antibacterial properties, as well as the ability to achieve stable photo-thermal-electric conversion, with an open-circuit voltage of up to 0.65 volts, thus enabling the integration of multiple functional properties. It is said that this achievement will lay an important technical foundation for the industrial application of nano-black phosphorus materials in fields such as heat management and green energy conversion.