Chemically Engineered Porous Molecular Coatings as Reactive Oxygen Species Generators and Reservoirs for Long‐Lasting Self‐Cleaning Textiles

Wearable personal protective equipment that is decorated with photoactive self‐cleaning materials capable of actively neutralizing biological pathogens is in high demand. Here, we developed a series of solution‐processable, crystalline porous materials capable of addressing this challenge. Textiles coated with these materials exhibit a broad range of functionalities, including spontaneous reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation upon absorption of daylight, and long‐term ROS storage in dark conditions. The ROS generation and storage abilities of these materials can be further improved through chemical engineering of the precursors without altering the three‐dimensional assembled superstructures. In comparison with traditional TiO2 or C3N4 self‐cleaning materials, the fluorinated molecular coating material HOF‐101‐F shows a 10‐ to 60‐fold enhancement of ROS generation and 10‐ to 20‐fold greater ROS storage ability. Our results pave the way for further developing self‐cleaning textile coatings for the rapid deactivation of highly infectious pathogenic bacteria under both daylight and light‐free conditions. A series of solution‐processable, crystalline porous materials were prepared and used as textiles coatings to spontaneously convert absorbed oxygen from air into reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon absorption of daylight, and long‐termly store ROS in dark conditions. This work paves the way for further developing self‐cleaning textile coatings for the rapid deactivation of highly infectious pathogenic bacteria under both daylight and light‐free conditions.