Nacre-Inspired Sustainable Coatings with Remarkable Fire-Retardant and Energy-Saving Cooling Performance

Nowadays, energy saving and fire protection are non-negligible properties in green buildings. Designing sustainable materials that integrate energy-saving cooling and fire protection performance is the future development trend and challenge. Herein, inspired by the ordered multilayer microstructure of nacre, an eco-friendly water-based coating with both fire-retardant and energy-saving cooling properties was fabricated from cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and TiO2-coated mica microplatelet (TiO2-mica). Owing to the “brick-and-mortar” structure formed by the “directional fluid assembly” method, this nacre-inspired coating can achieve the high near-infrared (NIR) reflectivity (∼90%) and effective fire-retardant performance simultaneously. Consequently, as a multifunctional water-based coating with emission of zero volatile organic compounds (VOC), this nacre-inspired coating presents a promising future in energy-efficient buildings and even automobiles.