Flame retardant finishing of cotton fabric based on ionic liquid compounds containing boron prepared with the sol-gel method

Cotton (CO) fabrics with flame retardant properties based on ionic liquids: 1-methyl-3-(-((triethoxysilyl)oxy)propyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium chloride (MCPTS) and 1-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)pyridine-1-ium chloride (PCPTS) with boron from boric acid are successfully obtained via a sol-gel process. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), optical microscopy analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, were first carried out to characterize the chemical composition and the morphology of the treated and untreated cotton fabrics, respectively. The investigation of flame resistance was evaluated by the vertical burning test. It was observed that the treated cotton fabrics exhibited good flame-retardant properties and did not burn even after 10 s flame application duration and the rate of flame spread was inhibited compared to the pristine cotton fabric. Furthermore, the thermal comportment of cotton fabrics was analyzed by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Moreover, the tensile strength of the treated textiles is mostly reserved. In this work, we prove that the sol-gel method using ionic liquids and boron could be used as an effective flame retardant to develop finishing cotton fabrics for textile fireproof applications. Graphical abstract