Bio-Inspired Polydopamine-Mediated Zr-MOF Fabrics for Solar Photothermal-Driven Instantaneous Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants

Self-detoxifying fabrics are desirable forms for protection against chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) have emerged as one of the fastest catalysts for nerve-agent hydrolysis, but there is still a lack of reliable methods to integrate them onto fibrous supports, and instantaneous detoxification remains challenging for MOF/fiber composites. Herein, we report a bio-inspired polydopamine (PDA)-mediated strategy for the preparation of Zr-MOF (UiO-66-NH2)-coated nanofiber membranes, which are capable of photothermally catalyzing the degradation of CWA simulants. UiO-66-NH2 nanocrystalline coating with high mass loading, perfect coverage, and good adhesion is readily formed on polyamide (PA)-6 nanofibers with the precoated PDA layer. The prepared PA-6@PDA@UiO-66-NH2 nanofibers display almost an order of magnitude higher turnover frequency (TOF) for the hydrolysis of the nerve agent simulant dimethyl 4-nitrophenylphosphate (DMNP) when irradiated under simulated solar light, with a half-life of only 0.5 min. Such a hydrolysis rate is significantly higher compared to that of the corresponding UiO-66-NH2 powder and UiO-66-NH2/fiber composites reported so far. This strategy may be easily generalized to other MOF/fiber pairs to achieve even higher performance and opens up new opportunities for solar photothermal catalysis in CWA protection.