Double-shell microstructures based on thermochromic materials and biomass flame retardants towards solving the fire and icing hazards

Due to the extreme dynamic weather, important industrial facilities and infrastructure providing vital support for people’s lives usually face the hazards of fire and icing, especially in the weather of thunderstorm and ice. Therefore, to further establish a safe community, we develop a dual-functional polyurea (PUA) coating used as protective materials by introducing flame retardancy and solar de-icing performance. Based on the microencapsulation and electrostatic self-assembly technologies, flame-retardant and thermochromic microcapsules (TCM) are firstly prepared and then added into PUA resin, by using melamine resin and bio-based phytic acid/chitosan (PA/CS) hybrids as double-shell materials. The high phosphorus content of PA and the carbon-forming effect of CS together play a synergistic flame retardant effect, not only improving the thermal stability of microcapsules but also enhancing the flame retardant property of PUA coating. In the cone calorimetry test, the ignition time of TCM@PA/CS@PUA-3 is longer, and the pHRR is reduced by 19.93 %, which shows the improvement of flame retardant performance. Due to the thermochromic mechanism, TCM@PA/CS@PUA composite coatings are able to adjust the photo-thermal conversion ability according to different environment temperature, achieving less temperature in hot environment and higher temperature in cold environment. The excellent photo-thermal conversion ability also promotes the ice melting and slide in 525 s. This polyurea composite coating with both flame retardant and de-icing properties shows great potential for maintaining the normal operation and safety of outdoor industrials and infrastructure in extremely dynamic weather conditions.