Rational design and preparation of flame retardant silk fabrics coated with reduced graphene oxide

Environmentally-friendly flame retardant silk fabrics were successfully fabricated by an industrialized surface modification method. The coating-reduction process was rationally designed and repeated several cycles to deposit more amounts of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets on silk fabric surface for better flame retardant performance of the prepared fabric. The prepared rGO-coated silk fabric (rGOSF), especially the silk fabric after 9 cycles of coating-reduction process showed improved flame retardant performance compared with pristine silk fabric, as evidenced by higher limiting oxygen index value, better thermal stability and shorter damaged length in vertical flame test. Moreover, smoke density test demonstrated the prepared rGOSF also had excellent smoke suppression property. In addition, the UPF value of rGOSF can also be increased to 55.19 (50+). Mechanical properties tests indicated the used surface modification method had no effect on the tensile strength of rGOSF. Moreover, washing durability test showed the prepared rGOSF had good fastness to washing. (C) 2018 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.