Chemical protective clothing (CPC) is major equipment to protect human skin from hazardous chemical warfare agents (CWAs), especially nerve agents and blister agents. CPC performance is mainly dominated by the chemical protective material, which needs to meet various requirements, such as mechanical robustness, protective properties, physiological comfort, cost-effectiveness, and dimensional stability. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) based sodium sulfonate membranes with different ion exchange capacities (IECs) are prepared simply from low-cost materials. Their mechanical properties, contact angles, permeations, and selectivities have been tested and compared with each other. Results show that membranes with IEC in the range of 1.5-2 mmol g-1 have high selectivities of water vapor permeation over CWA simulant vapor permeation and good mechanical properties. Therefore, PVDF-based sodium sulfonate membranes are potential materials for CPC applications.
Keywords: chemical protection; membrane separation; nerve agents; sodium sulfonate membrane; water vapor permeation.