Chemical Protective Textiles of UiO-66-Integrated PVDF Composite Fibers with Rapid Heterogeneous Decontamination of Toxic Organophosphates

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new and growing area of materials with high porosity and customizability. UiO-66, a zirconium-based MOF, has shown much interest to the military because of the ability of the MOF to catalytically decontaminate chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Unfortunately, the applications for MOFs are limited because of their powder form, which is difficult to incorporate into protective clothing. As a result, a new area of research has developed to functionalize fabrics with MOFs to make a wearable multifunctional fabric that retains the desired properties of the MOF. In this work, UiO-66 was incorporated into poly(vinylidene) fluoride/Ti(OH) composite fabric using electrospinning and evaluated for its use in chemical protective clothing. The base triethanolamine (TEA) was added to the composite fabric to create a self-buffering system that would allow for catalytic decontamination of CWAs without the need for a buffer solution. The fabrics were tested against the simulants methyl-paraoxon (dimethyl (4-nitrophenyl) phosphate, DMNP), diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), and the nerve agent soman (GD). The results show that all of the samples have high moisture vapor transport and filtration efficiency, which are desirable for protective clothing. The incorporation of TEA decreased air permeation of the fabric, but increased the catalytic activity of the composite fabric against DMNP and DFP. Samples with and without TEA have rapid half-lives ( t) as short as 35 min against GD agent. These new catalytically active self-buffering multifunctional fabrics have great potential for application in chemical protective clothings.

Nanofibers for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications

“…Electrospun fibers as ideal protective clothings with high surface area, porosity, and ease of functionalizing have shown high efficiency in comparison with conventional materials to protect against nanoparticulate aerosols, chemicals, and biological threats (which include chemicals like nerve agents, mustard gas, blood agents such as cyanides, and biological toxins such as bacterial spores, viruses, and rickettsiae) . Faccini et al.…”

Synthesis of macroscopic monolithic metal–organic gels for ultra-fast destruction of chemical warfare agents

“…The application of Zr-MOF powders is greatly hampered, due to their inherent problems such as particle aggregation, poor processability and handling, mass transfer limitations, and signicant pressure drop in an adsorption bed. [11][12][13][14][15] To overcome the issues of Zr-MOF powders, many methods have been reported to construct Zr-MOF macroscale structures by either integrating Zr-MOFs into support materials such as bers, [16][17][18] polymeric monoliths 19,20 and foams, [21][22][23] or pelletizing Zr-MOF powders via mechanical compression or extrusion. [24][25][26] However, both strategies still have issues such as reduced adsorption capacities, due to the use of Zr-MOF as a secondary component, and pressure-induced losses of crystallinity and porosity.…”

Constructing Mesoporous Adsorption Channels and MOF–Polymer Interfaces in Electrospun Composite Fibers for Effective Removal of Emerging Organic Contaminants

“…Though many studies have focused on the MOF/polymer electrospun fibers as adsorbents for water treatment, , problems still exist, which need to be overcome. Normally, there are two ways to prepare MOF/polymer electrospun fibers, which are “blending electrospinning” and “surface coating”. , The preparation of MOF/polymer blending electrospun fibers from blending electrospinning involves a three-step procedure: MOF powder synthesis, preparation of a MOF/polymer blending solution, and direct electrospinning of the blending solution . The preparation of MOF-coated electrospun polymer fibers from surface coating involves a two-step procedure: preparation of polymer-based electrospun fibers and the in situ coating of MOFs on the surface of the fibers .…”

“…26,27 The preparation of MOF/polymer blending electrospun fibers from blending electrospinning involves a three-step procedure: MOF powder synthesis, preparation of a MOF/polymer blending solution, and direct electrospinning of the blending solution. 28 The preparation of MOF-coated electrospun polymer fibers from surface coating involves a two-step procedure: preparation of polymer-based electrospun fibers and the in situ coating of MOFs on the surface of the fibers. 29 The advantage of MOF/ polymer blending electrospun fibers is that MOFs can be loaded in the fibers steadily.…”