MOFabric: Electrospun Nanofiber Mats from PVDF/UiO-66-NH₂ for Chemical Protection and Decontamination

Abstract

Textiles capable of capture and detoxification of toxic chemicals, such as chemical-warfare agents (CWAs), are of high interest. Some metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit superior reactivity toward CWAs. However, it remains a challenge to integrate powder MOFs into engineered materials like textiles, while retaining functionalities like crystallinity, adsorptivity, and reactivity. Here, we present a simple method of electrospinning UiO-66-NH, a zirconium MOF, with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The electrospun composite, which we refer to as "MOFabric", exhibits comparable crystal patterns, surface area, chlorine uptake, and simulant hydrolysis to powder UiO-66-NH. The MOFabric is also capable of breaking down GD (O-pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridae) faster than powder UiO-66-NH Half-life of GD monitored by solid-state NMR for MOFabric is 131 min versus 315 min on powder UiO-66-NH.

Air Activated Self‐Decontaminating Polydicyclopentadiene PolyHIPE Foams for Rapid Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Agents

“…Research motivated by self‐cleaning filtration media has included investigations into catalytic technologies such as polyoxometallates (POMs), metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), metal oxides, and, more recently, nucleophilic polymers . POMs, MOFs, and metal oxides are all limited in application as powders or require incorporation into a supportive structure that limits the reactive surface area.…”

“…However, despite the advantage of high surface area to volume ratios offered by electrospun nanofiber mats, process scale‐up remains a challenge due to low throughput and lack of reproducibility . Furthermore, the polymer component of these composites acts merely as a support structure for the decontamination agent with no activity of its own . Recent progress in polymer‐based CWA detoxification has been achieved by nucleophilic polymers comprising 4‐aminopyridine‐modified polyalkylamines; however, conditions for reactivity are pH‐sensitive and require the presence of water …”

Nylon–MOF Composites through Postsynthetic Polymerization

“…[4] Assembly of composite materials with MOFs has proven to be an effective way to exploit the desired properties of MOFs,such as porosity and catalytic activity,inaform factor that makes their handling and implementation considerably easier than in the native,p owder form. [7] Significant advances have been made in the field of MOF composites by achieving covalent integration of MOF and polymer components. [7] Significant advances have been made in the field of MOF composites by achieving covalent integration of MOF and polymer components.…”

“…[5] Previous work has shown that ap olymer composite can actually enhance the characteristics of MOFs through framework stabilization [6] or enhanced uptake of ad esired analyte. [7] Significant advances have been made in the field of MOF composites by achieving covalent integration of MOF and polymer components. [8] Despite these advances,t he covalent integration of MOFs and polymers remains challenging.T wo primary methodologies to produce these covalent composite materials have been pursued.…”

Electrospinning of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Energy and Environmental Applications

“…[61,62] The resulting MOFs are embedded in a polymeric nanofiber matrix. [61,62] The resulting MOFs are embedded in a polymeric nanofiber matrix.…”