A critical review on integrated fabric-based functionalized composites for protection and decontamination of chemical and biological warfare agents

Chemical and biological warfare agents (CWAs/BWAs) pose severe global security threats due to their unpredictable performance and extreme lethality, driving urgent demands for advanced protective technologies. As critical components in personal protective equipment, fabric-based materials have emerged as promising candidates for CWA/BWA countermeasures owing to their unique combination of lightweight fexibility, physiological comfort, and adaptable barrier properties. Recent breakthroughs in functional composites have enabled the development of smart fabrics integrating multidimensional protection mechanisms through strategic incorporation of advanced materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), carbon nanomaterials, inorganic nanoparticles, and functional polymers. These engineered fabrics demonstrate synergistic capabilities combining protection and decontamination properties. Despite remarkable progress, this field currently lacks comprehensive understanding of material design principles, structure-property relationships, and technology implementation challenges. This review initiates with a systematic analysis on fabric substrates and advanced manufacturing techniques for functional composites, focusing on the intrinsic properties of various fabric architectures and their corresponding functionalization strategies. And then, we comprehensively examine the implementation mechanisms of fabric-based composites in protecting against CWA/BWAs, organized by material classification. Each category undergoes rigorous assessments across three critical dimensions: protective efficacy, operational mechanisms, and current technological constraints, accompanied by targeted improvement methodologies. The discussion