A sustainable strategy for preparation of flame-retardant cotton fabric by phosphorylation of recycled cotton

The recycling and reutilization of cotton waste are in line with the sustainable development of society. Therefore, in this work, an environmentally friendly cellulose phosphate ammonium salt was synthesized by phosphorylation of cotton waste. Then the cotton fabrics were modified with cellulose phosphate ammonium salt by using the dip–dry–cure technique to obtain flame-retardant cotton fabric. The surface morphology, characteristic functional groups, and elemental components were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicated that the cellulose phosphate ammonium salt was immobilized onto the cotton fabric through a P–O–C chemical bond. Vertical combustion tests before and after washing showed that the treated cotton fabric had durable flame-retardant properties. Thermogravimetry demonstrated that the treated cotton fabric retained a large amount of residual char and the pyrolysis temperature was significantly earlier than that of the control sample. Compared with the blank sample, the peak of heat release rate and total heat release of the modified fabric was reduced by 90.8% and 84.1%, respectively. Thermogravimetric infrared of flame-retardant cotton fabric proved that cellulose phosphate ammonium salt acted both in the gas and condensed phase during the decomposition of the treated fabric.