Persistent Antiseptic Peroxide from Silica

The potential for exposure to microbes, toxins, and pollutants in the environment presents an ongoing challenge to Airmen during routine operations and training.  One of the major lessons learned from the novel coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic is that our deployed warfighters are vulnerable to diseases and infection when stationed in theater away from the protections afforded by the U.S. doctors, hospitals, and accessibility to medicines.  To combat this ongoing vulnerability, to reduce potential exposure, and to provide persistent protection to these threats, an on-demand antiseptic hydrogen peroxide system for uniforms, fabrics, cloths, or surfaces is proposed.  A silica-coating technology that wicks water from the surrounding environment to produce hydrogen peroxide is proposed.  This technology would be low-cost, utilize green chemistry principles, and would provide a warfighter-safe protective barrier to unknown environmental exposure. The active persistent antiseptic technology will protect the individual wearer and the warfighter unit by limiting the possibility of unintentional transmission and contact exposure.  In this Phase I effort, an initial experimental design and demonstration will facilitate parameterizing the molecular dynamics and modeling and simulation inputs for Phase II technology optimization and manufacturing using an iterative modeling-experimental design.