The role of carbon textile surface functionalities in reactive adsorption of vapor and liquid 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide: Evaluating interactions at the interface

A carbon textile (CT) was chemically modified to increase its surface activity and promote the adsorption and degradation of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) - a surrogate for mustard gas. CT was initially subjected to oxidation (CTO), and then heated under ammonia (CTON) or hydrogen sulfide (CTOS) atmosphere to incorporate nitrogen or sulfur functionalities, respectively. Detoxification experiments were performed in closed vials using either vapor or liquid forms of CEES. The maximum vapor weight uptakes on CT, CTO, CTOS, and CTON were 399, 372, 434, and 489 mg/g, respectively. All textiles were able to prevent the vaporization of CEES liquid droplets. Although similar reaction products were detected in both vapor and liquid systems, the marked differences in the extent of CEES chemical transformation on the surfaces of the textiles indicate distinct detoxification pathways influenced by surface chemistry. Even though the heterogeneous surface of CTO, enriched with oxygen surface groups, facilitated various reactions, hydrolysis was the predominant pathway. The thermal treatment, regardless of the atmosphere, reduced the oxygen content, decreasing the extent of hydrolysis. However, incorporating basic surface groups such as pyridines, amines, or weak acids such as thiols promoted dehydrohalogenation as the main detoxification pathway on these samples.