Green MOF-Fabrics: Benign, Scalable Sorption-Vapor Synthesis of Catalytic Composites to Protect against Phosphorus-Based Toxins

Abstract

Metal–organic framework (MOF)-fabric composites are important for coupling wide-ranging MOF chemistry with portable, flexible substrates; however, synthesis methods reported to date rely on harmful solvents and typically use batch, solution-based processing. Here, using only ethanol, water, acetic acid, and γ-valerolactone solvents, we show facile synthesis of MOF-fabric composites using a scalable, sorption-vapor approach. UiO-66-NH2 was integrated onto spandex, polyethylene terephthalate, cotton, nyco, and polypropylene fabrics. MOF-fabrics made with green solvents had higher MOF loading, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, and superior performance for pesticide paraoxon-methyl hydrolysis than corresponding composites made with dimethylformamide (DMF). MOF loading, BET surface area, and performance increased with consecutive coatings of UiO-66-NH2. Process scalability was confirmed by coating 40 in.2 of fabric using only 20 mL of precursor solution, resulting in 76% total MOF heterogeneous yield. Moreover, spandex@UiO-66-NH2 composites made using benign methods outperformed those made with DMF in solid-state hydrolysis of the chemical warfare agent soman. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST-1) and MOF-808 composites were also explored.