A New Kind of Fireproof, Flexible, Inorganic, Nanocomposite Paper and Its Application to the Protection Layer in Flame‐Retardant Fiber‐Optic Cables

An innovative method for making a new kind of highly flexible, fireproof, inorganic, nanocomposite paper made from glass fibers (GFs) coated with network‐structured hydroxyapatite ultralong nanowires (NS‐HANWs) is reported. The NS‐HANW/GF paper is fireproof, high‐temperature resistant, highly flexible, highly exquisite, and smooth, which is comparable to high‐quality advanced coated paper. The most incredible characteristic of the NS‐HANW/GF paper is its incombustibility. The as‐prepared NS‐HANW/GF paper, with the addition of optimized inorganic additives, has high mechanical properties (tensile strength ≈16 MPa) and the tensile strength is nearly 15 times that of GF paper. In addition, the NS‐HANW/GF paper exhibits a high biocompatibility, owing to the coating effect of NS‐HANWs on GFs. Thermal analysis indicates that the NS‐HANW/GF paper has high thermal stability at high temperatures up to 1000 °C. Competitive to conventional insulation materials, the NS‐HANW/GF paper exhibits a low thermal conductivity and excellent heat insulation performance. Experiments show that the NS‐HANW/GF paper is promising for application in the protection layer of fire‐retardant fiber‐optic cable. The NS‐HANW/GF paper can also be used as printing, copying, or writing paper; nonflammable China paper; fire‐retardant wallpaper; specialty fireproof paper; and so on.