Sulfonated Block Ionomers Enable Transparent, Fire-Resistant, Tough yet Strong Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate (PC) features high transparency and balanced mechanical properties, and thus is being growingly used for producing many high-end products, e.g., construction facades, sensors and 5G equipment. For these applications, PC is required to combine satisfactory fire retardancy and great toughness while retain its mechanical strength and optical transparency. However, existing either fire retardants or toughening agents fail to enable PC to achieve such a required performance portfolio due to their improper molecular designs. To overcome this challenge, we, herein, rationally design a series of sulfonated ionomeric fire retardants (sSEBS-M, M = Na+, Zn2+, Ce3+) by sulfonating and neutralizing styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS). The sSEBS-M can be well-dispersed within the PC matrix with phase domain sizes less than 500 nm. Chemical structures of sSEBS-M and their dispersion within the polymer matrix strongly correlate to their comprehensive performances in PC. Among three sSEBS-M ionomers, sSEBS-Ce endows PC with better comprehensive performances. With 1.5 wt% of sSEBS-Ce, the final PC achieves a high limiting oxygen index of 33.5% and a desired UL-94 V-0 rating, in addition to a 53% reduction in peak heat release rate and a comparable transparency to virgin PC. Moreover, its impact toughness and ductility are enhanced by 40% and 116% with tensile strength well-preserved. The integrated performance portfolios are superior to previous counterparts. This work offers a novel strategy for the design of multifunctional ionomer-based fire retardants for creating high-performance PC and reveals its structure-composition-property relationship in PC, which will enable PC to realize its practical applications in above-mentioned industries.