Design and Development of Fire-Safety Materials in Artificial Intelligence Era

Figure 1. (a) Previous methods for deducing mechanism and (b) our proposed novel approach for revealing the real burning behavior and flame-retardant mechanism. Figure 2. (a) Illustration of the previous structure–activity relationship theory and (b) our proposed theoretical flame retardancy model based on the flame-retardant roles. Figure 3. AI-assistant self-iterative, high-throughput, and generalizable flame-retardant material design framework. Traditional flame retardants and flame-retardant polymeric materials struggle to meet the stringent requirements of emerging areas. For instance, fire incidents involving new energy vehicles, extreme wildfires, and hydrogen fuel cells, etc. present extreme conditions with higher temperatures and greater heat flux, demanding enhanced thermal stability and heat shock resistance in flame-retardant polymeric materials. Additionally, materials used in ultrahigh-voltage electrical systems must withstand extreme voltages and large currents, necessitating improved electrical insulation and thermal stability to ensure operational safety and reliability. Some halogen-based and certain phosphorus-based flame retardants are still associated with persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) hazards. (25−27) Future research should prioritize the development of low-toxicity, low-pollution flame-retardant solutions that minimize environmental accumulation risks while preventing the release of hazardous gases or persistent pollutants during combustion. Traditional flame retardants are primarily derived from nonrenewable fossil resources, which conflicts with carbon neutrality and sustainability goals. Future research should explore the use of renewable biomass resources, such as polysaccharides, lignin, and proteins, to develop efficient and low-carbon flame retardants. Flame retardants are typically incorporated into polymeric materials through physical or chemical means, where incorporating flame-retardant elements often complicates waste management by limiting material reuse and increasing environmental impact. (28) Therefore, considering the recyclability of flame-retardant polymeric materials in the initial material design or the physical/chemical/biological recovery of the discarded flame-retardant polymeric materials is necessary to reduce the impact on the environment and improve resource utilization. Figure 4. AI-assistant material design framework applying to flame retardant or flame-retardant materials research. T.F. and Y.-Z.W. discussed the topic and proposed the outline, wrote the draft, and revised the manuscript. Teng Fu received his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry and physics in 2019 from Sichuan University. He joined Professor Yu-Zhong Wang’s group in 2019, and now he is a researcher at Sichuan University. His current research interests are focused on fire-safety materials, devices and apparatus. Yu-Zhong Wang received his Ph.D. from Sichuan University in 1994 and became a Full Professor of Sichuan University in 1995. He is the Director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Eco-Friendly Polymeric Materials (Sichuan)/National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Fire-Safety Materials D&A (Shandong), which he founded. His research interests are focused on fire-retardant and functional polymeric materials, along with biobased and biodegradable polymers, as well as recycling and upcycling of polymeric materials. This work is financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (U24A6004), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the 111 project (B20001), National Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymer Materials (Grant No.sklpme2024-2-02), and the Institutional Research Fund from Sichuan University (2021SCUNL201). This article references 28 other publications. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.