Supramolecular self-assembly for synthesis of novel chitosan-based adhesive in wood composites so as to improve waterproofing and flame retardancy

Yuefeng Huang; Yaohong Yang; Di He; Li Liu; Peng Wang; Wei Bi; Zhenqiang Kan; Kaimeng Xu; Guanben Du; Lianpeng Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138121

Supramolecular self-assembly for synthesis of novel chitosan-based adhesive in wood composites so as to improve waterproofing and flame retardancy

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Nov 26;284(Pt 1):138121. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138121. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yuefeng Huang¹, Yaohong Yang¹, Di He¹, Li Liu¹, Peng Wang², Wei Bi¹, Zhenqiang Kan¹, Kaimeng Xu¹, Guanben Du³, Lianpeng Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
² College of Biological, Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China. Electronic address: pengwang@zjxu.edu.cn.
³ Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China. Electronic address: guanben@swfu.edu.cn.
⁴ Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China. Electronic address: lpz@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 39608525
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138121

Abstract

As awareness of building safety and fire prevention grows, the demand for fire-retardant materials is gradually increasing. The need for flame-retardant wood composites is particularly urgent in public, high-rise, and commercial buildings. However, most of the current research has focused on adding flame retardants, often at the expense of mechanical properties. This study prepared a fully bio-based flame retardant, high-strength, and boiling water resistant adhesive using supramolecular self-assembly strategy. In this work, chitosan, malic acid, and phytic acid were dissolved in water in one step, and the resulting adhesive is fully bio-based and environmentally friendly. Next, this adhesive had been applied to multi-layer wooden boards to prepare wood composites with excellent mechanical properties (the highest shear dry strength was 1.66 MPa). Furthermore, the crosslinked network created by the ester and amide bonds provides the wood composites with exceptional water resistance (the highest shear strength after boiling water treatment was 1.13 MPa). More importantly, the wood composites obtained have excellent flame retardancy (LOI_max = 30.2 %) compared to natural wood. Therefore, this work provides a reference for producing water-resistant and flame-retardant wood materials without compromising their mechanical properties.

Keywords: Flame-retardant; Supramolecular self-assembly; Wood composites.