Polymerized MOF Beads for CWAs

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) continue to represent a significant threat with their high toxicity levels. Current protective layers provide a good adsorbent, but not a reactive layer and are thus not an efficient detoxifier for CWAs. Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials show great promise to integrate a reactive component to actively decompose, or detoxify but they are difficult to integrate due to the small particle size. In Phase I, we developed a scalable method for the fabrication of a wide range of spherical MOF beads within highly porous polymer matrix. Furthermore, this technique was applied to a range of polymers and MOFs, allowing precise tuning of the properties. We demonstrated the process for a range of MOFs and polymers. In all cases the beads retained 95% to 99% of the MOF’s available surface area, had excellent mechanical stability, and did not dust. In Phase II, we will further optimize the process expanding the MOFs and the polymers to optimize the performance as well as methods of integrating the beads into protective equipment. Phase II will ultimately result in the delivery of 1 kg of validated unpackaged and packaged beads for testing in a relevant operational environment (TRL 6).