Transition metal-substituted polyoxometalate-ionic liquids with remarkable flame retardancy performance

The development of effective and novel flame retardants has been attracting considerable attention in extenuating the fire threat of flammable polymer materials including the widely-used epoxy resins. In this work, we pioneeringly report the construction of transition-metal-substituted polyoxometalate-ionic liquids (tmsPOM-ILs) as effective flame retardants, which consist of tetra-metal-containing POMs ([M₄(H₂O)₂(PW₉O₃₄)₂]¹⁰⁻, M₄P₂, M = Ni, Cu) anions and tetra-n-heptylammonium [(n-C₇H₁₅)₄N⁺, THPA] cations. The resulting tmsPOM-ILs exhibited remarkably improved fire-safety of the epoxy resin (EP) matrix and even at a loading amount of as low as 3 wt%, the flame retardancy efficiency was even higher than that of commercial flame retardants (aluminum hydroxide (ATH), triphenyl phosphate (TPP), and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE)). Physicochemical and mechanistic studies revealed that the remarkable flame retardancy performance of the tmsPOM-ILs reported is due to their excellent epoxy matrix compatibility and remarkable catalytic charring ability. This work opens up a brand-new research direction of developing next-generation compatible and effective tmsPOM-based molecular flame retardants at the molecular level.