Aerogel-Based Chemical and Biological Protective Fabrics.

The Department of Defense has identified the need to develop aerogel-based Chemical/Biological (CB) protective fabrics with good moisture vapor transmission for use in garment and collective protection systems. Aspen Aerogels proposes to develop aerogel-coated fabrics as a novel protection material against chemical and biological warfare agents. The aerogel component will be based on silica and nano-scale metal oxides. Silica serves as a highly porous (> 90 % porosity) support for finely dispersed nano-scale metal oxide powders that can catalytically deactivate the agents. The high surface area and nano-sized pores of the aerogel could be used to sequester the agent molecules in much the same manner as activated carbon. Additionally, metal oxides catalytically deactivate the agents and transform them to non-threatening species. By comparison, water molecules do not interact strongly with the hydrophobic aerogel pore wall or the metal oxides, and therefore will not loose much energy in colliding with the wall and the progress of the molecule will not be significantly slowed or halted. Accordingly, the aerogel-based protective fabrics possess high permeation selectivity between water vapor and agent vapors (high breathability).