Inspiration from a thermosensitive biomass gel: A novel method to improving the stability of core-shell “dry water” fire extinguishing agent

“Dry water” (DW) material is the powder with hydrophobic nano silica particles as the shell and water droplets as the core. The water content in DW is higher than 90%, thus, it is an effective fire extinguishing material. However, when DW is compressed under external pressures, it will crack with the core-shell structure being destroyed. In this work, the water phase in the core is modified as gel phase to enhance the internal pressure resistance of DW powder and its stability. More specifically, the feasibility and optimum preparation conditions of carrageenan gel based dry water (CGDW) material are explored and its fire extinguishing performance is revealed using fire extinguishing experiments. The results indicate that the CGDW powder performs better in fire extinguishing than ordinary ABC dry powder. The CGDW materials are green and environmental friendly, and show broad potentials in various applications. [Display omitted] •The gel phase is formed in “dry water” powder to enhance its stability.•This preparation is inspired from temperature sensitive carrageenan gel.•Fire extinguishing performance of modified “dry water” powder was investigated.