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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 12 2021, @05:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the really-cleaning-up dept.

A rare feat: Material protects against both biological and chemical threats:

A Northwestern University research team has developed a versatile composite fabric that can deactivate both biological threats, such as the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and chemical threats, such as those used in chemical warfare. A material that is effective against both classes of threats is rare.

The material also is reusable. It can be restored to its original state after the fabric has been exposed to threats by a simple bleach treatment.The promising fabric could be used in face masks and other protective clothing.

"Having a bifunctional material that has the ability to deactivate both chemical and biological toxic agents is crucial since the complexity to integrate multiple materials to do the job is high," said Northwestern's Omar Farha, an expert in metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs[*], which is the basis for the technology.

[...] The MOF/fiber composite builds on an earlier study in which Farha's team created a nanomaterial that deactivates toxic nerve agents. With some small manipulations, the researchers were able to also incorporate antiviral and antibacterial agents into the material.

MOFs are "sophisticated bath sponges," Farha said. The nano-sized materials are designed with a lot of holes that can capture gases, vapors and other agents the way a sponge captures water. In the new composite fabric, the cavities of the MOFs have catalysts that can deactivate toxic chemicals, viruses and bacteria. The porous nanomaterial can be easily coated on textile fibers.

[*] MOF: Wikipedia

Journal Reference:
Yuk Ha Cheung, Kaikai Ma, Hans C. van Leeuwen, et al. Immobilized Regenerable Active Chlorine within a Zirconium-Based MOF Textile Composite to Eliminate Biological and Chemical Threats, Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c08576)


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 12 2021, @08:59AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 12 2021, @08:59AM (#1186374)

    I remember a few of these miraculous materials and in many cases there were some problems with them. So here it may be for example decay to some components being not so friendly to organism.
    An interesting example: Some time ago I was replacing an exhaust pipe from a gas water heater. I remember that in place in which it went to the wall, it was sealed by the bar of specific mineral cloth which prevented carbon monoxide from leaking if there was some problem with chimney. It was called... chryzotil? something like this, I don't know its English name. This thing has been used for 50 years or so, for this, for thermal isolation, for firemen suits, for keeping heaters from melting the floor if it was polymer, for lots of things. It was cheap as it was just dug from the ground. Now I was looking everywhere for it and... there is no more of it because it was too powdery when cut and its powders were toxic. And today everything must be single-use so it started to be a problem in early 2000s.
    So what you do now instead? You die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Great. Or you pay, and pay, and pay, for network of detectors, for monthly inspections, for bi-yearly camera inspections...

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Swervin on Tuesday October 12 2021, @01:55PM (1 child)

    by Swervin (2444) on Tuesday October 12 2021, @01:55PM (#1186405)

    Commonly known as "asbestos" in most English speaking countries:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysotile [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 12 2021, @02:17PM

      by Freeman (732) on Tuesday October 12 2021, @02:17PM (#1186412) Journal

      The useful bit about "asbestos": (One of those things that causes cancer in more than just the State of California.)

      "Asbestos exposure is associated with parenchymal asbestosis, asbestos-related pleural abnormalities, peritoneal mesothelioma, and lung cancer, and it may be associated with cancer at some extra-thoracic sites".[14] In other scientific publications, epidemiologists have published peer reviewed scientific papers establishing that chrysotile is the main cause of pleural mesothelioma.[15][16][17]

      Chrysotile has been recommended for inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent,[18] an international treaty that restricts the global trade in hazardous materials.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"