Applications
- Environmental remediation of contaminated sites
- Industrial chemical safety
- Self-decontaminating protective gear
Benefits
- Extremely high catalytic efficiency for the rapid degradation of chemical warfare agents
- Exceptional stability and durability under diverse conditions
- Cost-effective and scalable synthesis for large-scale production
Background
Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) pose a persistent threat to both environmental and human health. Existing catalytic approaches for neutralizing CWAs face challenges such as slow degradation rates, limited material stability, high costs, and difficulty in integration with protective equipment. New catalysts with tunable frameworks and strong Lewis acidity are needed to enable rapid, reliable, and economical detoxification.
Technology Overview
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed niobium–zirconium metal-organic frameworks (Nb–Zr-MOFs) that deliver unprecedented catalytic performance for CWA degradation. Key features of this technology include:
- Ultra-Fast Degradation: Uniform nanoparticles degrade CWA simulants, such as dimethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (DMNP), within minutes, achieving half-lives of about 10 to 45 seconds, which is faster than any reported catalysts.
- Exceptional Stability: Maintains high catalytic efficiency even after hours of continuous reaction, whereas conventional Zr-MOFs retain only ~25% under identical conditions, underscoring its robustness for real-world applications.
- Scalable & Cost-Effective: Synthesis costs are comparable to conventional Zr-MOFs while enabling high performance with lower catalyst loading.
Development Stage
Laboratory scale validation in relevant environment (TRL 5)
Inventors
Yi Liu, Linfeng Chen, Michael Connolly, Zhiyuan Huang, Jeffrey Urban
IP Status
Patent pending
Opportunities
Available for licensing or collaborative research
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