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Due to the difficulty of absorbing viscous crude oil, there is an urgent need for carbon sponges with excellent photothermal properties and oil‐water separation capabilities to reduce viscosity and facilitate oil absorption. However, the preparation of high‐temperature carbonization leads to poor mechanical properties, low absorption capacity, and stringent preparation conditions. To solve these challenges, a highly hydrophobic flame‐retardant melamine sponge (CPBA@CMS) is designed by assembling sponge at the interface of cobalt–iron Prussian blue (CoFe‐PBA) derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and conducting low‐temperature catalytic carbonization under nitrogen. The results demonstrate that CPBA@CMS exhibits excellent superhydrophobic properties (water contact angle = 169.7°) and oil absorption capacity (80.7–219.5 g g−1). Furthermore, CPBA@CMS displays remarkable photothermal effects and thermal conductivity, making it adaptable to various environmental conditions. It can rapidly rise to 141 °C under 1 kW m−2 solar irradiation, with the maximum oil absorption rate reaching 98% and the highest oil absorption capacity at 105.5 g g−1. Additionally, CPBA@CMS shows significant fire safety performance, reducing heat release rate by 84.2%, smoke factor by 97.5%, and CO release rate by 81.4%, respectively. It provides an efficient, safe, and sustainable practical solution for effectively addressing spills of crude oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two kinds of polyaniline coupled graphitized carbon nitride nanosheets doped with different organic phosphoric acids (CP@PA, with phytic acid; CP@NP, with amino trimethyl phosphonic acid) are developed by in‐situ polymerization. According to the analysis of the section morphology and element distribution of epoxy resin (EP) composites, although CP@PA and CP@NP show completely different morphology, they can significantly enhance the dispersion of graphitized carbon nitride nanosheets in EP. Moreover, the different oxidation states of phosphorus contained in the CP@PA and CP@NP lead to varying effects on the fire safety of EP. The flame retardancy Index (FRI) is a dimensionless index to evaluate the performance of flame retardants. When used as a flame retardant, CP@NP (FRI = 3.22) is better than CP@PA (FRI = 1.29) in flame retardant, especially in suppressing thermal hazards. As a synergist of intumescent flame retardants (IFR), CP@PA (FRI = 26.12) is most effective in improving the comprehensive fire safety property of EP and achieves an "Excellent" rating. Therefore, two different flame‐retardant mechanisms of CP@PA and CP@NP are summarized by analyzing the combustion behavior and changes of condensed phase. In summary, this research may be helpful to the design of nano synergies for IFR systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article mainly studied novel hollow carbon microspheres modified with molybdenum compounds for flame retardancy and toxicity reduction in thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomer. The structure of hollow carbon spheres (HCS) was investigated by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy‐energy‐dispersive spectrometer, respectively. The specific molybdenum compounds on the surface of HCS were further investigated by X‐ray diffraction. The flame retardancy and toxicity reduction of hollow carbon microsphere in TPU composites were studied by cone calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and so forth. The result shows that HCS modified by molybdenum compounds (MOH) can reduce fire hazards and toxic release of TPU during combustion. For example, under the same load, the peak heat release rate of TPU/MOH composite decreased by 63.39%, that of TPU composite prepared by modified HCS with ammonium molybdate (TPU/AMH) decreased by 52.89%, and that of TPU composite prepared by introducing acidulated carbonized HCS (TPU/CAH) decreased by 40.73%, compared with that of pure TPU. The peak smoke production rate (pSPR), peak carbon monoxide production (pCOP), and peak carbon dioxide production (pCO2P) of TPU/MOH composite decreased by 52.34%, 72.4%, and 68.3%, respectively. Therefore, there is a novel strategy to incorporate modified HCS to TPU, facilitating its widely promising applications in TPU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium fumarate (SF, C4H3NaO4), as a low‐cost and environment‐friendly additive, has been applied as the fire safety agent to investigate the flame retardancy and smoke suppression property in thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU). A series of tests were carried out, including limiting oxygen index (LOI), cone calorimeter test (CCT), smoke density test (SDT), and thermogravimetric/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG‐IR). The results proved that the addition of SF can significantly improve the fire safety property of TPU. Remarkably, in the case of the sample containing 2.0 wt% SF, LOI was raised up to 27.5 compared with 21.0 of pure TPU. The CCT results showed that pHRR, THR, TSR, and SF values decreased by 60.1%, 17.0%, 44.6%, and 66.4%, respectively, while the residual mass increased from 3.0% to 12.3% compared with pure TPU. The digital photographs displayed a more compact and intense carbon layer after the addition of SF. The SDT results indicated SF has increased the luminous flux and reduced Ds values, implying the improvement of the smoke suppression property of TPU. TG and TG‐IR results showed that the addition of SF has promoted the char forming process and reduced the release of CO2 and other volatile compounds. All results of tests illustrated that SF has considerable fire safety effect on TPU. Through the analysis of the results of this experiment, it will make a significance in the aspect of fire safety of polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]