Functionalized MXenes nanosheets inspired flame retardant epoxy composites: Mechanisms investigation and safety evaluation

Transition metal carbide (MXene) with great flame retardation potential, tends to aggregate and shows passable efficacy when used alone. Thus, a MXene-based nano-flame retardant (H-MX) is synthesized via interfacial engineering strategy, which is further incorporated into epoxy resin (EP). By adding 4 wt% H-MX, the peak heat release rate, peak smoke production rate and peak CO production rate are decreased by 31.6 %, 62.9 % and 57.1 %, respectively. Moreover, the absorbance intensities of toxic HCN, NO, and CO gases are decreased by 12.5 %, 75.3 % and 56.6 %. Simultaneously, a fire safety assessment system is constructed via analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy of flame retardant, rather than based on the facile reductions in heat or smoke parameters. Overall, H-MX significantly reduces the fire hazard of EP, particularly in smoke suppression. This work can offer useful inspirations for the facile design, performance evaluation and versatile usage of polymer composites with superior fire safety. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd.