Overview

• Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi will share 11 million Swedish kronor for their pioneering work on metal–organic frameworks.
• MOFs are crystalline networks of metal ions and organic linkers that create tunable pores with immense internal surface area for highly selective storage and separation.
• The Nobel Committee highlighted uses such as harvesting water from desert air, capturing carbon dioxide, storing toxic gases and catalyzing reactions.
• Coverage notes additional demonstrated applications including PFAS removal, hydrogen storage and containment of hazardous gases in semiconductor manufacturing.
• The field traces to Robson’s 1989 concept with decisive advances by Kitagawa and Yaghi from 1992 to 2003, and researchers have since built tens of thousands of MOFs as industry explores scale-up despite manufacturing and stability challenges.