Intumescent All‐Polymer Multilayer Nanocoating Capable of Extinguishing Flame on Fabric

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there were an estimated 1.3 million fi res in the United States in 2009, which resulted in 3010 civilian deaths (one every 175 minutes), 17 050 injuries (one every 31 minutes), [ 1 ] and direct property loss estimated at $12.5 billion. There were more than 40 000 deaths worldwide from fi re in 2006 and it cost every country an average of 1% of their gross domestic product in property loss, medical services for burn victims, etc. [ 2 ] Firerelated issues continue to drive the development of materials that can reduce fi re risk to save lives and protect property, but any fl ame retardants used to reduce that fi re risk have to meet various safety standards to reduce the deleterious effect on the environment or human health. Textiles in particular require effective anti-fl ammable performance combined with minimal enviornmental impact because they are often washed and fl ame retardant additives can leach out of the fabric and into the environment. [ 3 , 4 ] There are numerous strategies used to make textile fi bers fl ame retardant: surface treatment, fi re-retardant additives or co-monomers in synthetic fi bers, nanocomposite technology, heat-resistant and inherently fi re-retardant fi bers, and fi ber blending. [ 5 ] More recently, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly has been used as a surface treatment to impart fl ame resistance to cotton fabric by coating each individual fi ber with a claypolymer nanobrick wall. [ 6 ]