Rationally designed high-performance Zr(OH)4@PAN nanofibrous membrane for self-detoxification of mustard gas simulant under an ambient condition

Abstract

Self-detoxifying materials capable of destructing chemical warfare agents (CWAs) under an ambient condition is highly desirable for the next generation of personal protection. To obtain the self-detoxifying material toward mustard gas, herein, Zr(OH)4@PAN nanofibrous membrane (NFM) was designed and fabricated through an electrospinning and subsequently alkali treatment, which showed sequestration and catalytic destruction properties simultaneously toward the surrogate of mustard gas, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES). Thanks to the large number and high alkalinity of the terminal hydroxyls of the present Zr(OH)4, the membrane exhibits superior self-detoxification property toward CEES (t1/2 = 0.98 h, 0.28 h at 20 °C and 40 °C, rh = 50%) at a simulative applied scenario of chemical warfare agents (CWAs), that is, the detoxification of CEES can be realized under ambient condition without any other requirements, such as the solvent, buffer solution, irradiation, oxidant, etc. Combing the sequestration effect of the porous membrane, the as-prepared Zr(OH)4@PAN NFM shows force-protection potential toward CWAs. Over 90% of CEES was transformed to non-toxic products in 4 h with Zr(OH)4@PAN NFM as the catalyst. In addition, the membrane can prevent the CEES droplets from entering, and only 0.238% of the CEES can penetrate after exposed in CEES aerosols for 3 h. The detoxification mechanism was further investigated in detail based on the experiments and the quantum mechanical studies, which revealed a multiple pathways transformation route from the toxic CEES to non-toxic HEES and EVS via cyclic sulfonium cations.