Recent events in London, Syria, and Malaysia confirm that chemical warfare agents (CWAs) continue to pose an immediate threat to warfighters and civilian populations. As a result, there remains a critical need for innovative materials and sorbents to quickly sequester and neutralize toxic chemicals and CWAs. This presentation will discuss a cheap and industrially scalable polymer foam that can sequester and decontaminate such threats. The polymer foam, comprising poly(dicyclopentadiene) (pDCPD), was synthesized via emulsion templating to produce a porous microstructure that aided in wicking and sequestering toxic chemicals. Additionally, the pDCPD foam oxidized in air to form carbonyl, hydroxy, and highly reactive peroxy oxidation products. The bound peroxy groups rapidly oxidized the CWA simulant demeton-S, a chemical surrogate for the extremely toxic nerve agent VX. Heating the pDCPD polymer foam in air accelerated the formation of bound peroxy species and improved the decontamination efficiency of the porous pDCPD foam.

Improved sequestration and decomposition of chemical warfare agents via low-temperature thermal treatment of porous poly(dicyclopentadiene) foams

256th National Meeting (2018)

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