The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to three scientists whose idea grew from the laboratory into a new branch of materials and an entire industry: Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi. Their work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – crystalline lattices with immense internal surface area – changed the way we think about gas storage, air and water purification, and even drug delivery. This porous “architecture” on a molecular scale is today considered one of the most influential discoveries of modern materials chemistry; it is therefore no surprise that 2025 marked the moment of formal recognition.
What MOFs actually are and why they are special
At the simplest level, a MOF is a “scaffold” composed of metal nodes and organic “struts” that connect them. The result is a crystalline lattice with regular channels and cavities. Due to this geometry, MOFs can have an internal surface area of several thousand square meters per single gram of material. In practice, this means that an surprisingly large number of molecules can be accommodated in their pores – from water vapor to carbon dioxide, methane, or hydrogen – and selectively so, depending on the chemical “furniture” within the pores.
A comparison often used – and one that captures the essence well – is that with children's climbing frames on a playground. The construction looks massive, but it is mostly empty space. Children play in the interstitial spaces; in MOFs, instead of children, molecules move. It is precisely this emptiness, which we manage at the atomic level, that makes MOFs extremely powerful adsorbents and reactive platforms.
Pioneers and the road to the Nobel
Australian chemist Richard Robson outlined the idea of crystalline networks in which metals and organic ligands are arranged in infinite patterns back in the seventies and eighties. Japanese researcher Susumu Kitagawa showed how such structures could be stable, permeable, and useful, while Omar M. Yaghi developed reticular chemistry – a systematic approach to “weaving” networks of predetermined topology and function. In the following decades, thousands of different MOFs were created, and with them new concepts: isoreticularity (building “families” with the same topology), post-synthetic modification (adjusting pore chemistry after synthesis), and functionalization tailored to the target process.
How a MOF “catches” and releases molecules
Why is immense surface area important? Because adsorption is a surface phenomenon. The more “shelves” and “corners,” the more places where molecules can temporarily bind. But the real power of MOFs lies in the fact that we can chemically “coat” this surface: functional groups that love water or, conversely, selectively catch CO2, ammonia, or sulfur dioxide can be incorporated into the pore. Once we fill the pores, the material can be regenerated by mild heating, pressure reduction, or humidity change – and the cycle repeats hundreds of times.
Water from air: from scientific curiosity to field test
Few demonstrations of MOFs have attracted as much attention as “water harvesting” from desert air. A team from Berkeley led by Omar Yaghi first showed that zirconium MOF-801 can absorb water even in dry air, and then developed aluminum MOF-303, a material with faster kinetics and higher capacity. Field trials in extremely dry environments confirmed that it is possible to passively, using solar heat, obtain hundreds of grams of water per kilogram of sorbent daily – without external power, in cycles adapted to the day-night exchange of temperature and humidity. For arid regions, this opens a new, spatially distributed infrastructure for drinking water.
From military to civilian application: DARPA's program and an emerging industry
Military operations especially feel the burden of “water logistics”: transporting canisters and tankers is expensive and risky. That is precisely why DARPA launched the Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program to encourage the development of a compact device that provides enough drinking water for an individual or a unit in extremely dry conditions. The program brought together academic and industrial teams with the goal of dramatically reducing mass, volume, and energy consumption compared to classic atmospheric water generators. American chemist Seth M. Cohen (UC San Diego) also worked as a program manager, and the results – from validated prototypes to the commercialization of sorbent technology – paved the way toward market solutions.
Gases under control: hydrogen, methane, and CO2
If water is the most emotional application, energy is probably the most important. MOFs allow hydrogen or methane tanks to “pack” more fuel at lower pressures and temperatures because gases do not “float” in the void but bind to the pore walls. Key parameters here are: pore size and distribution, specific surface area, interaction energy of hydrogen with “anchors” in the pores, and heat flow during charging/discharging. Although wide commercial application in vehicles remains a challenge – especially at near-ambient temperatures – the trend is clear: the design of pores and functional groups is bringing systems closer to performance goals prescribed by energy regulators.
On the other hand, in the fight against climate change, MOFs are imposing themselves as adsorbents for the selective capture of CO2 from flue gases of power plants or even from the air. Their advantage is tunability: amine functional groups, open metal sites, or “smart” lattices that change affinity depending on humidity and temperature. They are increasingly combined with membranes, resulting in mixed membranes with improved permeability and selectivity.
Neutralization of toxic vapors and protection
Another area where MOFs are extremely promising is the capture and degradation of toxic gases like ammonia, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, or nitrogen oxides. Classic adsorbents often corrode or saturate quickly; the goal is to obtain materials that can not only “catch” a molecule at the ppm level but also chemically transform it into harmless species. In this direction, stable Zr- and Al-MOFs with catalytic sites have been developed, as well as composites carrying catalysts for oxidation and neutralization within the pores.
Drugs in the rhythm of pores: slow and targeted delivery
A porous lattice is not just a “storage unit”; it can also be a “delivery schedule.” Pharmaceutical molecules can be “parked” in pores so that they are released slowly, under supervision, and potentially in a targeted manner – for example, under the influence of pH, light, or temperature. Post-synthetic modifications, an area where Seth Cohen's group made key contributions, enabled functional groups to be incorporated within the lattice that “hold” the drug while desirable, and then release it at the site of effect. At the same time, MOF-polymer nanocomposites offer better mechanical robustness and biocompatibility.
From laboratory “salt” to tank: what the leap to application looks like
In the story of MOFs, the counterintuitive example with gas tanks is often highlighted. Imagine a methane tank: it is empty and ready for filling. If you pour MOF granules into it, visually you have “stolen” volume from the gas. But each crystal hides thousands of square meters of internal surface area on which methane can be adsorbed. The result: at the same pressure and temperature, a multiply larger amount of gas fits into the “filled” tank than into an empty one. The engineering challenge is heat distribution (adsorption releases heat), mechanical stability of the packed bed, and long cycles without degradation.
What is reticular chemistry and why is it crucial
Yaghi's concept of reticular chemistry provided the tools to design the lattice in advance: topology (e.g., cubic, hexagonal), distances between nodes, chemistry of nodes and “bridges” are chosen, so properties – from pore size to hydrophilicity – are predicted, not found by chance. This enabled “families” like UiO-66 (zirconium nodes, various ligands) and MIL-series (aluminum/iron nodes) which are today the workhorses of many applications. The very fact that dozens of functional groups can be “pulled” onto the same topology makes MOFs a platform, not a single material.
Sorption curves, hysteresis, and real conditions
In the laboratory, it is easy to achieve impressive numbers, but industry demands performance in real conditions: presence of humidity, variable temperatures, mixtures of impurities, mechanical vibrations. That is why today, alongside classic isotherms (Langmuir, BET), dynamic tests through thousands of cycles, rapid desorption under mild conditions, and resistance to corrosive gases are gaining importance. For capturing ammonia or SO2, MOFs with “sacrificial” sites that regenerate are being developed, while for CO2, amine-functionalized lattices that retain selectivity even in humid gas streams are increasingly preferred.
The role of universities and government agencies
The Nobel is a spotlight, but the infrastructure leading to it – laboratories, centers, and programs – often remains in the shadow. UC Berkeley, Kyoto, and Melbourne led conceptual development, while UC San Diego and other institutions pushed materials toward post-synthetic modification, membranes, and biomedicine. On the government side, programs like DARPA's AWE played an important role in “translating” materials into devices, from microwave-sized prototypes to systems for entire camps. No less important is the wave of industrial partnerships pulling technology out of publications and turning it into robust equipment.
Where we are today and what follows
Today, the catalog of known MOFs is vast, and machine learning helps predict combinations of metals and ligands with targeted hydrogen binding energetics or selectivity towards CO2 in humid conditions. Commercial products are still niche – for example, containers for ethylene control that prolong fruit freshness, filters for selective removal of unpleasant odors, or prototypes of home water collectors – but the trend is clear: with the drop in sorbent prices and integration with efficient heat exchangers, MOFs are leaving the laboratory.
Why the 2025 recognition matters beyond chemistry
Nobel stories often remain “within the profession,” but this case has broader significance. The world is simultaneously struggling with water insecurity, decarbonization, and air quality. MOFs are a rare example of a platform that opens options on multiple fronts: passive water collection in the sun, tanks that facilitate clean fuel logistics, filters and catalysts that protect health. The award to Kitagawa, Robson, and Yaghi is therefore also a symbolic message – investing in the foundations of materials chemistry can bring solutions that are both practical and scalable.
How to recognize “hype” and distinguish it from progress
It is worth saying this too: MOFs have long been “stars” of covers because the numbers regarding surface areas and capacities sounded incredible. Critical questions – synthesis cost, recyclability of metals and ligands, safety during leaching, mechanical cohesion in real devices – have not disappeared. What has changed is that researchers and engineers in the last few years have started showing reliable cycles in desert terrain, validated prototypes for water from air, and measured performance according to industrial metrics. In other words, the “hype” is retreating before concrete engineering evidence.
Note on date and context
The central Nobel award ceremony is traditionally on December 10, and this year it comes after the October announcements of the laureates. In the scientific community, debates will continue – who did what first, which was the breakthrough publication – but there is little doubt that the 2025 winners have built MOFs into the foundations of modern materials chemistry. Their work will remain a reference for everyone who wants to extract water from air, store hydrogen in tanks, or clean gases that belong in processes, not in our lungs.