Three Scientists Win 2025 Nobel Prize for MOF Discovery

Three scientists — Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi, have jointly won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), an extraordinary class of materials that can trap and store gases within their tiny, sponge-like structures.

Announced on Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden, the Nobel Committee praised their work as “a new era in molecular architecture.” The committee even drew a playful comparison between MOFs and Hermione Granger’s magically expanded handbag from the Harry Potter series — small on the outside but capable of holding vast amounts inside.

Revolutionary Materials with Endless Possibilities

According to Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Chemistry Committee, MOFs can store enormous quantities of gas in a very small volume. He likened their structure to a “molecular hotel,” where gases act as guests, moving in and out of microscopic rooms inside the material.

These materials aren’t just a laboratory marvel — they could become key tools in solving real-world environmental challenges. The Nobel Committee noted that MOFs can be used to:

• Capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
• Extract water from desert air
• Store toxic gases safely
• Serve as catalysts in chemical reactions

The Brains Behind the Breakthrough

Richard Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne, started the groundwork in the 1970s. He proposed that linking molecules instead of single atoms could create complex, stable structures. By the 1980s, his experiments showed self-assembling crystal-like materials with large internal cavities a totally new concept at the time.

Building on that idea, Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University explored how “useless” porous materials could serve practical purposes. In 1992, he presented his first porous molecular structure, and by 1997, he discovered a molecule that could absorb and release gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and methane, a major leap in chemistry.

Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian-born scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, took the concept even further. He designed MOF-5, a robust framework that remains stable even at temperatures as high as 300°C (570°F). The committee described it as a “classic” model in the field of material science.

A Material That Defies Imagination

The scale of MOFs is hard to grasp. Professor Kim Jelfs of Imperial College London remarked that just one gram of a MOF can have as much internal surface area as a football field. This enormous surface area is what gives these materials their incredible ability to trap, store, and separate gases.

Fighting Climate Change and Cleaning the Planet

Beyond their scientific brilliance, MOFs have life-changing potential. Yaghi’s team has already demonstrated their use in harvesting water from desert air — particularly in Arizona, where the material absorbed moisture overnight and released fresh water when warmed by sunlight.

They could also help in climate action, by capturing carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere and by cleaning polluted water of toxic “forever chemicals” and pharmaceutical residues.

Global Recognition and Reward

For their groundbreaking work, the trio will share a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1 million).

Their discovery, decades in the making, not only transformed chemistry but also gave humanity new hope for tackling some of the world’s most difficult environmental challenges — all from materials no bigger than a grain of sand.