Shen Advances Firefighting Security with Revolutionary Hydrogel Know-how

Friday, December 12, 2025

Media Contact:
Desa James | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-2669 | desa.james@okstate.edu

What occurs when water, the world’s most typical firefighting agent, isn’t satisfactory?
Dr. Ruiqing Shen with the Faculty of Engineering, Structure and Know-how goals
to supply the reply.  

With assist from a brand new NSF EPSCoR Analysis Fellows award, Oklahoma State College
is main the way in which in next-generation hearth suppression know-how by the work
of Shen, assistant professor of fireplace safety and security engineering know-how
within the Faculty of Hearth, Building and Emergency Administration. 

The fellowship will assist the development of thermo-responsive, water-efficient
hydrogels designed to fight a few of at present’s most difficult hearth eventualities: wildland
and lithium-ion battery fires.    

“Lithium-ion battery fires are pushed by thermal runaway, an inside chain response
that continues to generate warmth even after seen flames are knocked down,” Shen
stated.   

These fires might require hundreds of gallons of water and might launch poisonous gases
when water comes into contact with broken battery elements.  

“In wildland fires, excessive temperatures may cause water to evaporate nearly instantly,
considerably lowering its cooling effectiveness,” Shen stated. “It’s also difficult
to produce adequate water to distant or drought-affected areas.”  

 Shen notes that current hearth occasions, corresponding to these in Maui, Los Angeles and Oklahoma,
illustrate these challenges, with hydrants working dry and system failures precipitated
by energy outages and broken infrastructure.  

Whereas water is an environment friendly hearth suppression agent, it solely cools the floor and
drains away rapidly. This drives the necessity for a simpler, sustainable agent.  

Thermo-responsive hydrogels may very well be the reply. Able to holding as much as 90% water,
these hydrogels insulate in opposition to warmth and resist runoff even below excessive circumstances.
  

The hydrogels behave like liquids at room temperature, making them straightforward to pump and
apply, however remodel into heat-activated gels when uncovered to excessive temperatures.   

As soon as in gel kind, they cling to burning supplies, block oxygen and launch saved
water slowly as steam. As a result of these supplies are water-efficient, biodegradable
and freed from PFAS and different problematic chemical substances, they scale back general water demand
and environmental impression whereas providing a cleaner, longer-lasting different for
communities going through rising hearth danger.  

The analysis is a collaborative effort between OSU and the College of Maryland,
two of the nation’s main fire-related educational applications.   

At UMD, Professor Stanislav Stoliarov directs the Hearth Testing and Analysis Middle,
one of many few services within the nation outfitted for the superior wildland and battery
hearth experiments required for this work. Via this partnership, OSU researchers
can quickly prototype hydrogel formulations, validate their efficiency below managed
hearth circumstances and incorporate new analytical instruments and testing workflows into CEAT’s
FPSET labs.   

The collaboration additionally expands OSU’s analysis capability, opening doorways to future federal
and {industry} funding along with offering college students with hands-on expertise utilizing
fashionable, fire-testing and material-development strategies not beforehand obtainable in
Oklahoma.  

The fellowship will permit Shen and his group to advance hydrogel improvement by
a collection of centered analysis goals, together with optimizing supplies formulations, conducting
bench-scale hearth assessments, and investigating the mechanisms that govern hydrogel-fire
interactions.   

Experiments can be performed at each OSU and UMD, with assist for hydrogel synthesis
from Professor Sundar Madihally of CEAT’s Faculty of Chemical Engineering.  

Information from bench-scale assessments that span a spread of fireplace eventualities can be used to hyperlink
hydrogel chemistry to actual suppression efficiency.   

These assessments embrace:  

• Hydrogel synthesis   

• Thermophysical testing (LCST measurement, water retention and thermal stability).   

• Spray characterization utilizing laser diffraction to measure droplet measurement and protection.   

• Wildland hearth assessments in a managed wind tunnel utilizing fuels like pine needles and
  wooden chips to measure ignition delay, flame unfold, and burn-through.   

• Battery hearth assessments to guage how hydrogels suppress thermal runaway, scale back propagation
  between cells, and restrict poisonous fuel launch.     

Shen emphasised that this work stands aside from conventional approaches.  

“This challenge is without doubt one of the first to systematically join the fabric science of
thermo-responsive hydrogels with bench-scale hearth dynamics for each wildland and lithium-ion
battery eventualities,” he stated.  

Pupil involvement is a central part of the fellowship. A graduate scholar will
take part in synthesis and testing efforts at each universities, and undergraduate
college students from FPSET and CHE will help in analysis.  

College students skilled by this challenge will acquire uncommon, industry-relevant experience
in:   

• Battery hearth habits   

• Wildland Hearth Science   

• Superior suppression supplies   

• Thermal evaluation and hearth testing instrumentation   

• Protected and efficient use of next-generation brokers   

“This talent set is more and more in demand throughout hearth service companies, emergency
administration, renewable vitality industries, automobile producers and analysis establishments,”
Shen stated.  

 The challenge can construct a pipeline of pros able to sort out rising hearth challenges.   

In the long run, this know-how might develop into an ordinary device in emergency response,
serving to communities adapt to the rising frequency and severity of fires.   

“If this know-how reaches full improvement,” Shen stated, “it might remodel hearth
suppression methods by providing water-efficient, eco-friendly alternate options for
fashionable hearth hazards… and higher resilience for rural and underserved areas with
restricted firefighting infrastructure.  

“I want to thank Dr. Sundar Madihally for his willingness to assist this challenge.
This degree of inside collaboration and assist inside OSU vastly strengthens the
challenge and enhances its potential for achievement.”