@article{Xue2024, 
author = {Yijiao Xue and Tianchen Zhang and Hong Peng and Zhewen Ma and Meng Zhang and Mark Lynch and Toan Dinh and Zhezhe Zhou and Yonghong Zhou and Pingan Song},
title = {Fire-retardant, anti-dripping, biodegradable and biobased polyurethane elastomers enabled by hydrogen-bonding with cellulose nanocrystals},
year = {2024},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {17},
number = {3},
pages = {2186-2194},
keywords = {polyurethane elastomers, cellulose nanocrystals, fire retardancy, anti-dripping, biodegradation},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-023-6397-0},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-023-6397-0},
abstract = {Thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) elastomers have attracted significant attention because of their many important industrial applications. However, the creation of fire-retardant and anti-dripping PU elastomers has remained a grant challenge due to the lack of crosslinking and weak interchain interactions. Herein, we report a mechanically robust, biodegradable, fire-retardant, and anti-dripping biobased PU elastomer with excellent biodegradability using an abietic acid-based compound as hard segments and polycaprolactone diol (PCL) as soft segments, followed by physically crosslinking with cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) through dynamic hydrogen-bonding. The resultant elastomer shows the balanced mechanical and fire-retardant properties, e.g., a tensile strength and break strain of 9.1 MPa and 560%, a self-extinguishing ability (V-0 rating in UL-94 testing), and an anti-dripping behavior. Moreover, the as-developed PU can be completely degraded in 1.0 wt.% lipase solution at 37 °C in 60 days, arising from the catalytic and wicking effect of CNC on PU chains. This work provides an innovative and versatile strategy for constructing robust, fire-retardant, anti-dripping, and biodegradable PU elastomers, which hold great promise for practical applications in electronic and automobile sectors.}
}