A new type of waterproof refractory paper developed by Shanghai Silicate Institute

Paper is one of the four great inventions in ancient China The invention of paper ended the complicated history of ancient bamboo slips and promoted the spread and development of human culture and science and technology Even in today's electronic information age with the rapid development of science and technology, paper still plays a very important role in people's daily work and life However, the traditional plant fiber paper is neither waterproof nor fireproof, which not only limits the application of traditional paper, but also lays a huge hidden danger for the long-term preservation of precious paper cultural relics For example, in January 2014, the National Library of France was flooded and more than 10000 books were damaged; the same tragedy happened in 2004 On January 30, 2015, a major fire broke out in the library of Moscow Institute of social science and information The fire lasted for more than ten hours, and millions of precious ancient books and other books were burned in the fire What's more, more books and materials were damaged in the process of water spray and fire-fighting We can imagine that if we can develop waterproof and fire-resistant "water and fire-resistant" paper, we can avoid countless similar tragedies Recently, the research team led by Zhu Yingjie, researcher of Shanghai Silicate Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made new progress in the research of new inorganic refractory paper The team has successfully developed a new waterproof refractory paper The waterproof refractory paper has many functions, such as high flexibility, excellent stability, super hydrophobicity, good self-cleaning function and heat insulation and fire resistance One of the outstanding advantages of the waterproof refractory paper is that its waterproof performance has high stability Even if the refractory paper is physically damaged or in the high temperature and severe environment, it can still maintain the waterproof performance well Compared with the traditional plant fiber paper, the waterproof refractory paper has obvious advantages and has good application prospects in many fields Relevant research work was published in the Journal of Applied Materials and interfaces of the American Chemical Society (F.F Chen, Y.J Zhu, et al., highly flexible superhydrobic and fire resistant layered organic paper, ACS Applied Materials & interfaces, 8, 34715-34724 (2016)) and applied for an invention patent Zhou Dunyi, a poet of Song Dynasty, expressed his love for the quality of lotus in his love for lotus Today, with the development of science and technology, the lotus leaves' self-cleaning function (lotus leaf effect) has aroused scientists' extensive interest in superhydrophobic materials Superhydrophobic materials have many advantages, such as antifouling, antifogging, self-cleaning and so on Although the preparation methods of superhydrophobic materials have been studied deeply in academic circles, it is still difficult to achieve the superhydrophobic properties of stability, resistance to mechanical damage and harsh environment The superhydrophobic surface can't keep the superhydrophobic state well when it suffers from physical damage such as scratch and wear or is in high temperature and other harsh environment At present, the preparation of super hydrophobic surface with high stability is still a great challenge In order to solve this problem, Zhu Yingjie's team proposed the concept of layered superhydrophobic refractory paper A new type of waterproof refractory paper with layered structure was prepared by using the surface modified hydroxyapatite ultra long nanowire as raw material The surface layer of the waterproof refractory paper not only presents superhydrophobic state, but also presents superhydrophobic state inside When the surface layer is physically damaged, the new layer exposed in the interior still remains in the superhydrophobic state, so as to achieve high stability of superhydrophobic performance of the refractory paper, which can still maintain the waterproof performance in good condition when the refractory paper is damaged mechanically (such as finger friction, adhesive tape sticking and peeling, sandpaper wear, knife cutting, etc.) or in the high temperature and harsh environment, and can achieve waterproof and heat insulation at the same time Fire resistance and other versatility The waterproof refractory paper not only has excellent superhydrophobic performance for water, but also has good superhydrophobic performance for a variety of commercial drinks such as mineral water, orange juice, black tea, milk and coffee In addition, the prepared waterproof refractory paper has a good self-cleaning function The water falling on the refractory paper will form a spherical water bead to roll freely on the surface of the paper and take away dust and other dirt to realize self-cleaning If waterproof refractory paper is used for outdoor billboards, etc., the rainwater can be used to automatically keep clean without the trouble of manual cleaning, and reduce the cost In addition, the waterproof refractory paper presents super hydrophobic performance and super lipophilic state, which can be applied to the rapid and efficient separation of oil and water Waterproof refractory paper also has excellent heat insulation and fire resistance performance, which can be used to protect inflammables from fire The above research work is one of the series research work of Zhu Yingjie's team on new inorganic refractory paper At present, the research team is focusing on the application and exploration of new inorganic refractory paper, mainly including special inorganic refractory paper, functional refractory paper, high temperature resistant label paper, optical (Electrical) cable flame-retardant wrapping, high-efficiency adsorption filter paper, thermal insulation flame-retardant paper, biomedical paper, etc.