Plant polyphenol intermediated metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes for efficient desalination

Tunable Hydrated Channels in Covalent Organic Framework Membrane for Seawater Desalination

Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis (RO) are instances of pressure-driven membrane desalination processes (PMDs), which have been extensively employed for seawater desalination due to their great efficiency and environmental friendliness. However, the PMD process is usually limited to thin-film composite polyamide membranes, despite enormous research efforts in recent decades. Here, light-controlled RO COF membranes are developed by using a defect-engineered strategy to chemically rivet spiropyran units into COF channels. The spatial arrangement of spiropyran provides the defect-engineered COF membranes with manageable apertures spanning from 6.9 to 11.1 Å. The COF membrane featuring ordered ultramicropores (6.9 Å, TAPA-TFP-SP-25% COFs) exhibits a preeminent desalinization performance with a NaCl rejection of 91.2%. Furthermore, under light stimulation, the COF channels decorated with spiropyran units are capable of self-regulating the framework structure and hydration conformation by controlling the interconnectivity of confined water clusters, thus achieving hydrated pore size tuning from 11.1 to ∼4.0 Å (from TAPA-TFP-SP-50% to TAPA-TFP-MC-50% COF membrane). Under dark conditions, zwitterionic COF membranes after photoisomerization (TAPA-TFP-MC-50%) exhibit an enhanced KCl rejection (96.2%), representing a 24.1% increase when compared to the COF membrane without interconnected hydrated channels (TAPA-TFP-SP-50%). This membrane channel design concept exploits a viable avenue for developing RO membranes to achieve efficient water purification.

Controllable Design of Polyamide Composite Membrane Separation Layer Structures via Metal-Organic Frameworks: A Review

Optimizing the structure of the polyamide (PA) layer to improve the separation performance of PA thin-film composite (TFC) membranes has always been a hot topic in the field of membrane preparation. As novel crystalline materials with high porosity, multi-functional groups, and good compatibility with membrane substrate, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been introduced in the past decade for the modification of the PA structure in order to break through the separation trade-off between permeability and selectivity. This review begins by summarizing the recent progress in the control of MOF-based thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane structures. The review also covers different strategies used for preparing TFN membranes. Additionally, it discusses the mechanisms behind how these strategies regulate the structure and properties of PA. Finally, the design of a competent MOF material that is suitable to reach the requirements for the fabrication of TFN membranes is also discussed. The aim of this paper is to provide key insights into the precise control of TFN-PA structures based on MOFs.

Construction of metal-organic framework/cellulose nanofibers-based hybrid membranes and their ion transport property for efficient osmotic energy conversion

The development of advanced nanofluidic membranes with better ion selectivity, efficient energy conversion and high output power density remains challenging. Herein, we prepared nanofluidic hybrid membranes based on TEMPO oxidized cellulose nanofibers (T-CNF) and manganese-based metal organic framework (MOF) using a simple in situ synthesis method. Incorporated T-CNF endows the MOF/T-CNF hybrid membrane with a high cation selectivity up to 0.93. Nanoporous MOF in three-dimensional interconnected nanochannels provides massive ion transport pathways. High transmembrane ion flux and low ion permeation energy barrier are correlated with a superior energy conversion efficiency (36 %) in MOF/T-CNF hybrid membrane. When operating under 50-fold salinity gradient by mixing simulated seawater and river water, the MOF/T-CNF hybrid membrane achieves a maximum power density value of 1.87 W m-2. About 5-fold increase in output power density was achieved compared to pure T-CNF membrane. The integration of natural nanofibers with high charge density and nanoporous MOF materials is demonstrated an effective and novel strategy for the enhancement of output power density of nanofluidic membranes, showing the great potential of MOF/T-CNF hybrid membranes as efficient nanofluidic osmotic energy generators.

MOF@Polydopamine-incorporated membrane with high permeability and mechanical property for efficient fouling-resistant and oil/water separation

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated great potential for their favorable impacts on the performance of water treatment membranes. Herein, the novel nanoparticles based on both nanoporous MOFs and organic PDA layer was exploited as a novel dopant for the fabrication of PES ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. The PDA was synthesized via oxidative self-polymerization under alkaline conditions and formed adhesive coatings on dispersed MOF. The properties of resulting membranes on the porosity, membrane morphology, hydrophilicity, permeability and anti-fouling performance were adequately investigated. The membranes incorporated with MOF@PDA exhibited exceptionally high permeability (209.02 L m-2·h-1), which is approximately 6 times higher than that of the pure PES membrane, and high BSA rejection (99.12%). Notably, the mechanical property and hydrophilicity of the PES membrane were both enhanced by MOF@PDA, and it has been demonstrated that greater hydrophilicity prevents fouling under practical conditions, which results in significant improvements in flux recovery ratio (FRR) (82%). In addition, the modified PES membranes were used to purify the oil/water emulsion, and the results indicates that the membranes have high permeability and rejection of oil/water emulsion, showing its great promise in practical oily sewage remediation.

Green and Sustainable Membranes: A review

Membranes are ubiquitous tools for modern water treatment technology that critically eliminate hazardous materials such as organic, inorganic, heavy metals, and biomedical pollutants. Nowadays, nano-membranes are of particular interest for myriad applications such as water treatment, desalination, ion exchange, ion concentration control, and several kinds of biomedical applications. However, this state-of-the-art technology suffers from some drawbacks, e.g., toxicity and fouling of contaminants, which makes the synthesis of green and sustainable membranes indeed safety-threatening. Typically, sustainability, non-toxicity, performance optimization, and commercialization are concerns centered on manufacturing green synthesized membranes. Thus, critical issues related to toxicity, biosafety, and mechanistic aspects of green-synthesized nano-membranes have to be systematically and comprehensively reviewed and discussed. Herein we evaluate various aspects of green nano-membranes in terms of their synthesis, characterization, recycling, and commercialization aspects. Nanomaterials intended for nano-membrane development are classified in view of their chemistry/synthesis, advantages, and limitations. Indeed, attaining prominent adsorption capacity and selectivity in green-synthesized nano-membranes requires multi-objective optimization of a number of materials and manufacturing parameters. In addition, the efficacy and removal performance of green nano-membranes are analyzed theoretically and experimentally to provide researchers and manufacturers with a comprehensive image of green nano-membrane efficiency under real environmental conditions.

Roles and gains of coordination chemistry in nanofiltration membrane: A review

The nanofiltration (NF) membranes with the specific separation accuracy for molecules with the size of 0.5-2 nm have been applied in various industries. However, the traditional polymeric NF membranes still face problems like the trade-off effect, organic solvent consumption, and weak durability in harsh conditions. The participation of coordination action or metal-organic coordination compounds (MOCs) brings the membrane with uniform pores, better antifouling properties, and high hydrophilicity. Some of the aqueous-phase reactions also help to introduce a green fabrication process to NF membranes. This review critically summarizes the recent research progress in coordination chemistry relevant NF membranes. The participation of coordination chemistry was classified by the various functions in NF membranes like additives, interlayers, selective layers, coating layers, and cross-linkers. Then, the effect and mechanism of the coordination chemistry on the performance of NF membranes are discussed in depth. Perspectives are given for the further promotion that coordination chemistry can make in NF processes. This review also provides comprehensive insight and constructive guidance on high-performance NF membranes with coordination chemistry.

Robust and multifunctional natural polyphenolic composites for water remediation

The scarcity of clean water has become a global environmental problem which constrains the development of public health, economy, and sustainability. In recent years, natural polyphenols have drawn increasing interests as promising platforms towards diverse water remediation composites and devices, owing to their abundant and renewable resource in nature, highly active surface chemistry, and multifunctionality. This review aims to summarize the most recent advances and highlights of natural polyphenol-based composite materials (e.g., nanofibers, membranes, particles, and hydrogels) for water remediation, by focusing on their structural and functional features, as well as their diversified applications including membrane filtration, solar distillation, adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, and disinfection. Finally, the future challenges in this field are also prospected. It is anticipated that this review will provide new opportunities towards the future development of natural polyphenols and other kinds of naturally occurring molecules in water purification applications.

Ultrafast Interfacial Self-Assembly toward Supramolecular Metal-Organic Films for Water Desalination

Supramolecular metal-organic materials are considered as the ideal candidates for membrane fabrication due to their excellent film forming characteristics, diverse metal centers and ligand sources, and designable structure and function. However, it remains challenging to rapidly construct highly permeable supramolecular metal-organic membranes with high salt rejection. Herein, a novel ultrafast interfacial self-assembly strategy to prepare supramolecular metal-organic films through the strong coordination interaction between highly active 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (TFP) ligands and Fe³⁺ , Sc³⁺ , or Cu²⁺ at the organic-aqueous interface is reported. Benefiting from the self-completing and self-limiting characteristics of this interfacial self-assembly, the new kind of supramolecular membrane with optimized composition can be assembled within 3.5 min and exhibits ultrathin, dense, defect-free features, and thus shows an excellent water permeance (21.5 L m^-2  h^-1  bar^-1 ) with a high Na₂ SO₄ rejection above 95%, which outperforms almost all of the non-polyamide membranes and commercially available nanofiltration membranes. This strong-coordination interfacial self-assembly method will open up a new way for the development of functional metal-organic supramolecular films for high-performance membrane separation and beyond.

Preparation of fouling resistant and highly perm-selective novel PSf/GO-vanillin nanofiltration membrane for efficient water purification

To meet the rising global demand for water, it is necessary to develop membranes capable of efficiently purifying contaminated water sources. Herein, we report a series of novel polysulfone (PSf)/GO-vanillin nanofiltration membranes highly permeable, selective, and fouling resistant. The membranes are composed of two-dimensional (2D) graphite oxide (GO) layers embedded with vanillin as porogen and PSf as the base polymer. There is a growing interest in addressing the synergistic effect of GO and vanillin on improving the permeability and antifouling characteristics of membranes. Various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques were used to perform detailed physicochemical and morphological analyses. The optimized PSf₁₆/GO_0.15-vanillin_0.8 membrane demonstrated 92.5% and 25.4% rejection rate for 2000 ppm magnesium sulphate (MgSO₄) and sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions respectively. Antifouling results showed over 99% rejection for BSA and 93.57% flux recovery ratio (FRR). Experimental work evaluated the antifouling characteristics of prepared membranes to treat landfill leachate wastewater. The results showed 84-90% rejection for magnesium (Mg⁺²) and calcium (Ca⁺²) with 90.32 FRR. The study experimentally demonstrated that adding GO and vanillin to the polymeric matrix significantly improves fouling resistance and membrane performance. Future research will focus on molecular sieving for industrial separations and other niche applications using mixed matrix membranes.

High flux and complete dyes removal from water by reduced graphene oxide laminate on Poly Vinylidene Fluoride/graphene oxide membranes

Dyes molecules are the most common pollutants of wastewater in the environment from the textile industry to numbers of technologies include dyeing, printing, and painting procedures. Among membrane-based separation approaches as established methods in the water treatment industry, polymers attracted massive attention in the production of membranes due to their low cost and high-performance filtration of pollutants. However, hydrophobicity and low speed of filtration along with limited decontamination performance against some of the dyes, demand new approaches and membranes to overcome drawbacks points. Herein, a new design introduced including a support layer made by Poly Vinylidene Fluoride (PVDF)/Graphene Oxide (PGO) composite membrane via immersion precipitation process and a thin layer (≤100 nm) of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) deposited (as an active layer) through a simple vacuum filtration method. It has been observed that the presence of the GO sheets in the PGO composite improved the hydrophilicity of the membrane, water flux (from ~90 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 in pristine PVDF to ~1690 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 in PGO), and anti-fouling property. By deposition of rGO laminate on PGO support, dyes separation as high as ~99% can be achieved for most of the cationic and anionic dyes due to electrostatic adsorption, π-π interactions and molecular sieving. This approach opens new insight on hybrid designs for graphene-polymers based membrane toward efficient and fast removal of pollutants from wastewater.

Porous Co3O4 nanodisks as robust peroxidase mimetics in an ultrasensitive colorimetric sensor for the rapid detection of multiple heavy metal residues in environmental water samples

The current method for rapid and ultrasensitive detection of multiple heavy metals in environmental water still face challenge. Herein, the porous Co₃O₄ nanodisks with robust peroxidase-mimicking activity were prepared, and its catalytic activity can be significantly inhibited by the heavy metals like Cd(II), Hg(II), Pb(II) and As, which makes us to establish an ultrasensitive and rapid colorimetric sensor for the detection of multiple heavy metals. Further investigation reveals the anticompetitive inhibition effect of heavy metals on peroxidase-mimicking activity. The colorimetric sensor displays excellent sensitivity and selectivity, and the limits of detection (LOD) for Cd(II), Hg(II), Pb(II) and As are 0.085 μg·L^-1, 0.19 μg·L^-1, 0.2 μg·L^-1 and 0.156 μg·L^-1, respectively. Notably, the absorbance variation will be greater than 0.5 as the concentration of heavy metals exceeds 5 μg·L^-1, which can be clearly discriminated by the naked eyes. Moreover, the average recovery range of heavy metals in actual water samples is from 86.9% to 98.3%. The above results indicate that the proposed sensor exhibits excellent practical applicability for the rapid and ultrasensitive detection of multiple harmful heavy metals in several environmental water samples, which has potential bright application in protecting the environment and human health.

Smart Self-Cleaning Membrane via the Blending of an Upper Critical Solution Temperature Diblock Copolymer with PVDF

Poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(imidazoled glycidyl methacrylate-co-diethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate) (PTFEMA-b-P(iGMA-co-MEO₂MA)) containing an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) polymer chain was prepared and blended with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to produce a thermoresponsive membrane with smart self-cleaning performance. The successful preparation of the membrane was demonstrated by attenuated total reflection-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy characterization. The membrane shows UCST performance, and its flux changes with the filtrate temperature as the UCST polymer chain stretches out and contracts in response to various temperatures. In addition, the UCST polymer chain can disrupt the foulant and push it away from the membrane when the temperature is above the UCST and thus enables membranes to exhibit a smart self-cleaning behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first report of a smart self-cleaning membrane based on the blending of a diblock copolymer containing a UCST polymer chain with PVDF.

A high-response formaldehyde sensor based on fibrous Ag-ZnO/In2O3 with multi-level heterojunctions

Timely detection of formaldehyde is pivotal because formaldehyde is slowly released from the indoor decorative materials, jeopardizing our healthy. Herein, a high-response formaldehyde gas sensor based on Ag-ZnO/In₂O₃ nanofibers was successfully fabricated. Compared with all the control samples, the hybrid exhibits superior sensitivity (0.65 ppm^-1), excellent selectivity (≥ 12.5) and durable stability (the deviation value ≤ 3%). Particularly, an ultra-high response value of about 186 towards 100 ppm of formaldehyde at 260 °C was achieved, heading the list of outstanding candidates. Additionally, the limit of detection is as low as 9 ppb. The enhanced gas sensing properties can be mainly attributed to multi-level heterojunctions (n-n heterojunction and Ohmic junction) and the "spill-over" effect of Ag, ultimately increasing the adsorption of gas molecules on the surface of sensing material. This work verifies that proper design of multi-level heterojunctions significantly upgrade the sensing performance.

Biphasic Electrolyte Inhibiting the Shuttle Effect of Redox Molecules in Lithium-Metal Batteries

Redox molecules (RMs) as electron carriers have been widely used in electrochemical energy-storage devices (ESDs), such as lithium redox flow batteries and lithium-O₂ batteries. Unfortunately, migration of RMs to the lithium (Li) anode leads to side reactions, resulting in reduced coulombic efficiency and early cell death. Our proof-of-concept study utilizes a biphasic organic electrolyte to resolve this issue, in which nonafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrohexyl-trimethoxysilane (NFTOS) and ether (or sulfone) with lithium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide (LiTFSI) can be separated to form the immiscible anolyte and catholyte. RMs are extracted to the catholyte due to the enormous solubility coefficients in the biphasic electrolytes with high and low polarity, resulting in inhibition of the shuttle effect. When coupled with a lithium anode, the Li-Li symmetric, Li redox flow and Li-O₂ batteries can achieve considerably prolonged cycle life with biphasic electrolytes. This concept provides a promising strategy to suppress the shuttle effect of RMs in ESDs.

The mussel-inspired micro-nano structure for antifouling:A flowering tree

Mussels are typical marine fouling organisms that attach to surfaces though secretions, which is generally the focus of research on mussel-related fouling. This study reveals "a flowering tree" structure on mussel shells with antifouling performance. Based on the antifouling mechanism of surface microstructure, we prepared mussel-like shells (P) using the biomimetic replication method. Mussel adhesion experiments were conducted to examine the anti-mussel performances of the mussel shells and P. The anti-diatom performances of the mussel-like shells were also evaluated using three types of diatoms. The mussels responded differently to different locations on the shells, and the flowering tree microstructure exhibited excellent antifouling performance. In addition, VP (P immersed in vinyl silicon oil) and HP (P immersed in hydroxyl silicone oil) were prepared. The anti-diatom performance of VP was better than those of P and HP, indicating that hydrophobicity has a greater influence on anti-diatom performance than electronegativity. The newly discovered antifouling micro-nano structure was parameterized, revealing that a branch of the flowering tree has an inclination of 13.3° to the surface with a height of 210.1 nm. The results of this study provide insights for further investigations of bionic micro-nano structures in the field of antifouling.

Polyphenol-Containing Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Properties, and Therapeutic Delivery

Polyphenols, the phenolic hydroxyl group-containing organic molecules, are widely found in natural plants and have shown beneficial effects on human health. Recently, polyphenol-containing nanoparticles have attracted extensive research attention due to their antioxidation property, anticancer activity, and universal adherent affinity, and thus have shown great promise in the preparation, stabilization, and modification of multifunctional nanoassemblies for bioimaging, therapeutic delivery, and other biomedical applications. Additionally, the metal-polyphenol networks, formed by the coordination interactions between polyphenols and metal ions, have been used to prepare an important class of polyphenol-containing nanoparticles for surface modification, bioimaging, drug delivery, and disease treatments. By focusing on the interactions between polyphenols and different materials (e.g., metal ions, inorganic materials, polymers, proteins, and nucleic acids), a comprehensive review on the synthesis and properties of the polyphenol-containing nanoparticles is provided. Moreover, the remarkable versatility of polyphenol-containing nanoparticles in different biomedical applications, including biodetection, multimodal bioimaging, protein and gene delivery, bone repair, antibiosis, and cancer theranostics is also demonstrated. Finally, the challenges faced by future research regarding the polyphenol-containing nanoparticles are discussed.

Durable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding ramie fabric with excellent flame retardancy and Self-healing performance

Although more and more attention has been paid to electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding fabric materials due to increasing electromagnetic waves pollution, little attention to their fire safety behavior and durability in practical use. Herein, durable EMI shielding ramie fabric with flame retardant and self-healing performance were fabricated by depositing ammonium polyphosphate (APP)/polyethyleneimine (PEI) layer, MXene sheets and polycaprolactone (PCL) layer. The resultant multifunctional fabric could self-extinguish and the peak heat release rate (pHRR) value reduced about 74.3% for the modified ramie fabric that contains about 12 wt% of PEI/APP bilayer compared with pure ramie fabric. Furthermore, the ramie fabric coated by a increasing amount of MXene sheets changed from insulating to conductive, thus gradually improving their EMI shielding performance, which exhibit a high electrical conductivity of 900.56 S/m with an outstanding SE value of 35 dB at a 1.2 mg/cm² content in the X-band. Besides, When the multifunctional fabric was cut off under external force, it could achieve self-healing and the EMI shielding performance can recover to 34 dB due to the low melting point and good fluidity of PCL. Thus, this multifunctional fabric holds great promise for wearable intelligent cloth, EMI shielding and other fields.

Thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate-based molecular perovskite from TG-DSC-FTIR-MS and ab initio molecular dynamics

(H₂dabco)[NH₄(ClO₄)₃] (DAP, dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) is a recently synthesized ammonium perchlorate-based molecular perovskite energetic material. The high-symmetry perovskite configuration assembles the oxidant ClO₄⁻ and fuel H₂dabco²⁺ into a compact cubic crystal, realizing a high energy-releasing efficiency. In this study, the thermal decomposition of DAP has been investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) coupled with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy (MS). The TG-DSC profiles show that DAP has an intense one-stage heat release process with a weight loss of 94.7%. The evolved gas products are identified as H₂O, CO₂, CO, HCl, HCN, NH₃, HNCO by FTIR spectrum, in which the infrared characteristic peak at 2283 and 2250 cm⁻¹ is clarified not from N₂O and assigned to HNCO. The principal products are H₂O and CO₂ together with significant amounts of HCl, HCN, NH₃ in MS, while few nitrogen oxides and O₂ are detected. The experimental results show that organic components have been the prominent media for the degradation of ClO₄⁻. To refine the mechanism observed in experiment, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to reveal the atomistic reaction mechanisms. The decomposition of DAP starts with proton transfer from NH₄⁺ and H₂dabco²⁺ to ClO₄⁻. The deprotonated carbon skeleton is preferable to NH₃ in capturing O atoms, realizing a faster consumption of O atoms. Amounts of H atoms enter the environment being active free radicals, realizing an efficient autocatalytic chain propagation of degradation of ClO₄⁻. The atomistic thermal decomposition reaction mechanism of DAP uncovers the role of organic components in promoting the degradation of ClO₄⁻, which will help improve the synthesis strategy of molecular perovskite energetic materials with improved performance.

Organic components realize a more efficient autocatalytic chain propagation for degradation of ClO₄⁻ in the thermal decomposition process of DAP.

Synergistic fouling behaviors and mechanisms of calcium ions and polyaluminum chloride associated with alginate solution in coagulation-ultrafiltration (UF) process

Effects of calcium ions and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) on membrane fouling in coagulation-ultrafiltration (UF) process were investigated in this study. Filtration tests demonstrated three interesting filtration behaviors: 1) high specific filtration resistance (SFR) of alginate solution with low CaCl₂ or PACl addition (e. g. 3.51×10¹⁵ m·kg ^-1 under the condition of 1.5 mM CaCl₂ addition); 2) unimodal pattern of alginate SFR with PACl or CaCl₂ addition alone; 3) synergistic effects between CaCl₂ and PACl on alginate SFR. It was found that, the foulant morphological changes driven by the thermodynamic mechanisms based on Flory-Huggins lattice theory take the critical roles in these filtration behaviors. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that initial coordination of Ca²⁺ and Al³⁺ ions with alginates tended to form tetrahedron geometry and geometry of coordinating three terminal carboxyl groups, respectively, which facilitated to elongate the alginate chains (without clustering the flocs) and form more stable gel, increasing SFR. Improving Ca²⁺ and Al³⁺ dosages triggered transition to other geometries for clustering polymeric network and flocculation, reducing SFR. Due to the higher binding affinity of Ca²⁺ over Al³⁺, Ca²⁺ and Al³⁺ sequentially take roles of enlarging polymeric network and clustering the coordination compounds, and then facilitate to form large size flocs and reduce SFR, causing the synergistic effects between CaCl₂ and PACl additions. The proposed thermodynamic mechanisms satisfactorily explained these interesting fouling behaviors, allowing to further optimize coagulation-UF process.

Flame-retardant ethylene vinyl acetate composite materials by combining additions of aluminum hydroxide and melamine cyanurate: Preparation and characteristic evaluations

There is a great interest to develop efficient fire-resistant materials. While ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) is a widely used material, it suffers from the problem of relatively high inflammability which seriously hinders its usage as the product material with a high flame-retardant requirement. In this study, a strategy to combine aluminum hydroxide (ATH) and melamine cyanurate (MCA) with EVA was proposed to prepare the EVA composite materials with high flame resistance. It was found that slight addition of MCA could increase the lubricity of EVA and raise the compatibility between EVA and ATH. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the thermal stability of EVA was improved via adding MCA, which was evidenced by the delayed thermal decomposition temperature. Moreover, the combustion results indicated that the EVA composite with 60 parts per hundred (phr) ATH and 40 phr MCA addition (EVA-60-40) displayed the optimal isolated layer favoring the fire resistance. In addition, the highest limiting oxygen index (LOI) value (27.5%) and V-0 rating of the EVA-60-40 as compared with other components indicated its incombustible nature. These results suggested the synergetic effect of ATH and MCA additions, the high efficiency of the proposed strategy and the wide application prospect of the produced EVA-ATH-MCA composite materials.