Phosphorus-Doped Graphene Oxide Layer as a Highly Efficient Flame Retardant.

A simple and easy process has been developed to efficiently dope phosphorus into a graphene oxide surface. Phosphorus-doped graphene oxide (PGO) is prepared by the treatment of polyphosphoric acid with phosphoric acid followed by addition of a graphene oxide solution while maintaining a pH of around 5 by addition of NaOH solution. The resulting materials are characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The as-made PGO solution-coated cloth exhibits excellent flame retardation properties. The PGO-coated cloth emits some smoke at the beginning without catching fire for more than 120 s and maintains its initial shape with little shrinkage. In contrast, the pristine cloth catches fire within 5 s and is completely burned within 25 s, leaving trace amounts of black residue. The simple technique of direct introduction of phosphorus into the graphene oxide surface to produce phosphorus-doped oxidized carbon nanoplatelets may be a general approach towards the low-cost mass production of PGO for many practical applications, including flame retardation.