Surface Manipulation of Thermal-Exfoliated Hexagonal Boron Nitride with Polyaniline for Improving Thermal Stability and Fire Safety Performance of Polymeric Materials

In this article, the polyaniline (PANI)/thermal-exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (BNO) hierarchical structure (PANI–BNO) was constructed via in situ deposition to improve the dispersion and interfacial adhesion of boron nitride in multi-aromatic polystyrene (PS) and polar thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Because of the conjugated structure and polar groups in PANI, the uniform dispersion and strong interfacial adhesion between PANI–BNO and PS and TPU were achieved. Thermogravimetric analysis results showed that the incorporation of PANI–BNO enhanced the thermal stability of PS and TPU, i.e., the temperatures at both 5 and 50 wt % mass loss. In addition, PANI with high charring ability also acted as a critical component to generate a synergistic effect with BNO on reducing the fire hazards of PS and TPU. This well-designed structure led to a remarkable reduction of flammable decomposed products and CO and CO2 yields. Meanwhile, a dramatic decrease in the real-time smoke density and total smoke production was observed for PS and TPU nanocomposites with 3 wt % PANI–BNO hybrids, respectively. The multiple synergistic effects (synergistic dispersion, char formation, and barrier effect) are believed to be the primary source for these enhanced properties of polymer nanocomposites.