Science AMA Series: We’re members of a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that is creating “second skin,” a breathable smart material that can respond to and protect against chemical or biological agents, for futuristic military uniforms. AMA!

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Hi Reddit,

I’m Francisco Fornasiero, a Staff Scientist within the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at LLNL and I am part of a team working on the development of highly breathable “smart” materials aimed at protecting soldiers from chemical and biological threats. I obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005, and had post-doctoral experiences at Stanford Research Institute (Menlo Park, CA) and at LLNL (Livermore, CA). During the graduate and post-graduate programs, I got interested in the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), i.e. tubular graphitic nanomaterials, for the fabrication of high performance membranes and composite films. Recently, our team has developed flexible polymeric membranes with carbon nanotube channels acting as moisture conductive pores. We have demonstrated that these nanochannels can sustain very rapid water vapor transport rates, and thus membranes made of these materials allow perspiration to escape efficiently. Because these pores are less than five nanometers in size, about 5,000 times smaller than the width of the human hair, the material prevents bioagents from getting in. While current uniforms are based on heavyweight, full-barrier protection, these moisture permeable uniforms would provide protection from bio-contaminated environments while preventing heat-stress and exhaustion. We believe that a material with this combination of properties holds great promises as the first key component of futuristic smart military uniforms that will respond to environmental hazards. With our collaborators, we are now developing responsive coating to actively block the permeation also of chemical threat without sacrificing breathability.

I am Ngoc Bui. I am currently a postdoc fellow in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). My research interests lie at the interface of nanomaterials and membrane science and engineering for sustainable water, energy and life sciences. At LLNL, I join a team striving to develop smart dynamic fabric materials that can sense and protectively respond to chemical and biological warfare agents for in-the-filed military-personnel protection. I earned my PhD in Chemical Engineering under the advisement of Professor Jeffrey McCutcheon at the University of Connecticut. My PhD research focused on pioneering the development of a new and effective generation of nanofiber-supported thin film composite membrane platform for sustainable water and energy production by harnessing salinity-gradient energy via osmotically-driven membrane processes. My thesis also focused on developing as thorough a mathematical transport model as possible to de-convolute all mass transfer resistances in water and salt transport across the membrane, offering opportunities for better predictive models and advanced membrane and system designs with precise control to be proposed.

I’m Eric Meshot and I am a staff scientist at LLNL, bringing nearly a decade of expertise in carbon nanotube synthesis and structural characterization to the “Second Skin” program. My research interests revolve around hierarchical materials, energy storage, and in situ and multiscale characterization. This range of interests is informed by my diverse background in engineering, having studied engineering physics at the University of California at Berkeley (Go Bears!) before studying mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), where I got my PhD. Then, just prior to joining LLNL, I was awarded a research fellowship through the Belgian American Education Foundation to investigate novel optoelectronic devices made from carbon nanostructures at imec and KU Leuven in Belgium. I am fascinated by the seemingly endless potential uses for carbon nanomaterials, and I am thrilled to be pushing this particular second skin application forward from conception to reality.

My name is Kuang Jen Wu and I’m the group leader of Biosecurity and Bio-nanosciences group at LLNL. I received my Ph.D. in physics from University of Oregon. My research interest involves applying nanoscience and nanotechnology to problems relevant to national biosecurity applications. I work with a multidisciplinary team with expertise in physical science, life science and engineering. This unique cross-cutting expertise allows us to establish cutting edge science and engineering capabilities to support LLNL?s mission needs. Our current research focus includes developing novel detection methods for biological agents, advanced bioanalytical and molecular imaging instrumentations for nanoscale characterization, novel carbon nanotube fabrics that repels chemical and biological agents and nanolipidprotein technology as a medical countermeasure to biological threats.

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">Science AMA Series: We’re members of a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that is creating “second skin,” a breathable smart material that can respond to and protect against chemical or biological agents, for futuristic military uniforms. AMA!