<p>This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan; Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia; and Omar M Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, US, for their pioneering work in creating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).</p>.<p>MOFs have large internal cavities that allow gases and other molecules to flow in and out, making them highly versatile. Over the past few decades, laboratories worldwide have developed numerous MOFs with varied uses – from separating PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from water and delivering pharmaceuticals in the human body to trapping ethylene gas to slow fruit ripening. Researchers have even harvested water from desert air, removed poisonous air from industrial emissions, and used MOFs to break down traces of antibiotics in the environment. </p>.<p>Robson was inspired by the atomic structure of diamond, a rigid three-dimensional network in which each carbon atom is bonded to four others in a tetrahedral arrangement. This repeating tetrahedral unit forms a crystal lattice, creating a highly stable and durable structure with strong covalent bonds in all directions. His early experiments in 1989 produced only unstable structures that collapsed. It was in the 1990s, through the efforts of Kitagawa and Yaghi, that stable frameworks were achieved. In 1999, Yaghi created MOF-5, a highly stable material with cubic spaces. Robson later used copper (Cu+) ions and four-armed molecules with nitrile (CN) groups to produce spacious MOF crystals. Since then, tens of thousands of MOFs have been formed by the scientists. MOF materials have pores at the nanoscale, which are molecular traps capable of selectively capturing gases, including CO2. They act like high-tech molecular sponges capable of selectively capturing gases such as CO2 with remarkable efficiency. </p>.<p>The Nobel Committee described MOFs as materials with “unheard of properties”, noting that a porous MOF weighing just two grams—roughly the size of a sugar cube—can have a surface area as large as a football field. As Olof Ramström of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry said, “A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione’s handbag in Harry Potter—it can store a huge amount of gas in a tiny volume.”</p>.<p>After receiving the award, Kitagawa said, “My dream is to capture air and separate air—for instance, in CO₂ or oxygen or water—and convert this into useful materials using renewable energy.” </p>.<p>The potential of this discovery is especially relevant in the face of increasing climate disasters. This year alone, floods and landslides have ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and the Northeastern states. Punjab saw one of its worst floods in living memory. Landslides in Sudan killed over a thousand people; in Nepal landslide debris buried the whole village, killing over a hundred. Heat waves and typhoons disrupted lives and livelihoods across the world --in the West, East and Southeast Asia. These extreme weather events are the symptoms of the 2,500 gigatons of CO2 humanity has pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. The Nobel-winning innovation offers a promising way to capture this carbon from the atmosphere. </p>.<p>Experiments using MOFs to capture CO2 began in 2005. In recent years, more researchers, such as Fan and Liu (2022 and 2024), have developed cobalt-based MOF photocatalysts that can convert CO2 into renewable energy. Industrial-scale applications are now within reach, potentially transforming carbon emissions into useable fuel. </p>.<p>In India, MOFs based on zinc, zirconium, chromium, and iron have achieved over 90 per cent efficiency in removing dye from wastewater. They are also being explored as photocatalysts for degrading emerging pollutants and as sensors for detecting antibiotics and heavy metals in wastewater. Several universities and research institutes in India are studying MOFs for carbon capture. While laboratory results are promising, scaling up for industrial applications remains a challenge.</p>.<p>As MOFs have the potential to trap poisonous gases, they could even play a role in tackling Delhi’s persistent air pollution. Post-combustion carbon capture using MOFs could be deployed in power plants and heavy industries, while pre-combustion carbon capture could benefit chemical processing and synthetic fuel production. Direct air capture from ambient air, meanwhile, offers benefits for large-scale global carbon mitigation. </p>.<p><em>(The writer is a retired head of the Karnataka Forest Force)</em></p><p><em>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)</em></p>
<p>This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan; Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia; and Omar M Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, US, for their pioneering work in creating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).</p>.<p>MOFs have large internal cavities that allow gases and other molecules to flow in and out, making them highly versatile. Over the past few decades, laboratories worldwide have developed numerous MOFs with varied uses – from separating PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from water and delivering pharmaceuticals in the human body to trapping ethylene gas to slow fruit ripening. Researchers have even harvested water from desert air, removed poisonous air from industrial emissions, and used MOFs to break down traces of antibiotics in the environment. </p>.<p>Robson was inspired by the atomic structure of diamond, a rigid three-dimensional network in which each carbon atom is bonded to four others in a tetrahedral arrangement. This repeating tetrahedral unit forms a crystal lattice, creating a highly stable and durable structure with strong covalent bonds in all directions. His early experiments in 1989 produced only unstable structures that collapsed. It was in the 1990s, through the efforts of Kitagawa and Yaghi, that stable frameworks were achieved. In 1999, Yaghi created MOF-5, a highly stable material with cubic spaces. Robson later used copper (Cu+) ions and four-armed molecules with nitrile (CN) groups to produce spacious MOF crystals. Since then, tens of thousands of MOFs have been formed by the scientists. MOF materials have pores at the nanoscale, which are molecular traps capable of selectively capturing gases, including CO2. They act like high-tech molecular sponges capable of selectively capturing gases such as CO2 with remarkable efficiency. </p>.<p>The Nobel Committee described MOFs as materials with “unheard of properties”, noting that a porous MOF weighing just two grams—roughly the size of a sugar cube—can have a surface area as large as a football field. As Olof Ramström of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry said, “A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione’s handbag in Harry Potter—it can store a huge amount of gas in a tiny volume.”</p>.<p>After receiving the award, Kitagawa said, “My dream is to capture air and separate air—for instance, in CO₂ or oxygen or water—and convert this into useful materials using renewable energy.” </p>.<p>The potential of this discovery is especially relevant in the face of increasing climate disasters. This year alone, floods and landslides have ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and the Northeastern states. Punjab saw one of its worst floods in living memory. Landslides in Sudan killed over a thousand people; in Nepal landslide debris buried the whole village, killing over a hundred. Heat waves and typhoons disrupted lives and livelihoods across the world --in the West, East and Southeast Asia. These extreme weather events are the symptoms of the 2,500 gigatons of CO2 humanity has pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. The Nobel-winning innovation offers a promising way to capture this carbon from the atmosphere. </p>.<p>Experiments using MOFs to capture CO2 began in 2005. In recent years, more researchers, such as Fan and Liu (2022 and 2024), have developed cobalt-based MOF photocatalysts that can convert CO2 into renewable energy. Industrial-scale applications are now within reach, potentially transforming carbon emissions into useable fuel. </p>.<p>In India, MOFs based on zinc, zirconium, chromium, and iron have achieved over 90 per cent efficiency in removing dye from wastewater. They are also being explored as photocatalysts for degrading emerging pollutants and as sensors for detecting antibiotics and heavy metals in wastewater. Several universities and research institutes in India are studying MOFs for carbon capture. While laboratory results are promising, scaling up for industrial applications remains a challenge.</p>.<p>As MOFs have the potential to trap poisonous gases, they could even play a role in tackling Delhi’s persistent air pollution. Post-combustion carbon capture using MOFs could be deployed in power plants and heavy industries, while pre-combustion carbon capture could benefit chemical processing and synthetic fuel production. Direct air capture from ambient air, meanwhile, offers benefits for large-scale global carbon mitigation. </p>.<p><em>(The writer is a retired head of the Karnataka Forest Force)</em></p><p><em>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)</em></p>
