The scientific research findings of the research group "Polymer Blends & Composites" of the School of Materials Science and Engineering won the second prize of Ningbo Scientific and Technological Progress Award, according to the results unveiled recently.

The team carried out original research on smoke suppression and toxicity reduction of flame-retardant polymer materials and made new discoveries. Based on the common understanding that the highly active free radicals released in the chain branching reaction are the root cause of the oxidative degradation of polymer materials, the team systematically established a new strategy of flame retardant and smoke suppression by controlling the conversion of highly active free radicals from the gas phase to the condensed phase, thus providing new material alternatives for fire escape and rescue. The project is of high academic value also in that it's the world's first systematic research on how condensed phase fullerene (C60) traps free radicals and improves the thermal oxygen stability and flame retardant properties of polymer materials. Highly efficient radical scavengers, as represented by C60, can trap highly active radicals in the condensed phase while producing no smoke and toxic gas. By compounding the condensed phase free radical scavengers with other flame retardants capable of covering, blocking and catalytic charring, the process of trapping free radicals is converted from the gas phase to the condensed phase, and a new flame retardant system featuring low smoke release is set up by making use of the interaction between the condensed phase free radicals, which not only retards flame but also effectively inhibits the release of smoke gas.

As of July 2021, ten representative papers had been published as the research results of the project, among which three are highly cited papers and one hot paper. Out of a total of 913 SCI citations, 881 are citations to other works. The research team has yielded a great number of research results in the field of flame retardancy involving fullerene, with the numbers of SCI-indexed papers and patents both ranking first in the world.