Metal Organic Framework – Nanofiber Composites for Chemical Absorbance/Remediation

R. Shrestha
Materic Group LLC,
United States

Keywords: MOF, electrospinning, nanofibres

Summary:

Metal organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a hybrid advanced material consisting of metal ions and organic molecules that exist as a three-dimension structure. MOFs are known for their high porosity and large surface area to volume ratios, which make them ideal candidates for capturing and remediation of harmful chemical warfare agents (CWAs) because of their catalytic detoxification properties and the variety of metal ions that can be applied to the organic framework. In order to optimize the MOFs’ capture efficiency, MOFs have been dispersed in Electrospun nanofibers (ESNF) to make a specialty high surface area filter to protect against harmful CWAs. To produce a MOF-Nanofiber composite, the MOFs were dispersed in a Poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer solution; when electrospun, PVDF is one of the most effective filtering materials because of the nanofiber’s high surface area to volume ratio and the inherent electrostatic properties of the polymer. The core concept is to combine the capture and remediation capabilities of the MOFs with the filtration capabilities of ESNF using a needleless electrospinning method which allows for effective integration of the MOFs into the ESNF membrane. MOFs of varying levels of porosity, solvation, and capture efficiency can be produced to optimize the right loading of MOF for efficient capture of CWAs without significant reduction of the nanofiber mat’s mechanical strength. These MOF-Nanofiber composite filters applied to gas mask or fabrics could protect against common chemicals, like chlorine and ammonia, or more dangerous CWAs containing phosphate ester bonds.