Metal-Organic Frameworks, Chemistry's New Miracle Materials

4 hours ago

MOFs are a new class of crystalline solids designed to trap various substances like greenhouse gases, harvest water, and deliver drugs.
They are highly porous with the greatest internal surface area of any known material; a single gram can theoretically cover a football field.
MOFs originate from reticular chemistry, pioneered by Omar Yaghi, and include related structures like COFs and ZIFs.
Yaghi's team created a water-harvesting MOF that extracts water from dry air using solar energy, producing about 1.3 liters per pound every 12 hours.
The technology is scalable for various applications, from small-scale to village-level water supply, and is being commercialized.
Yaghi developed MOFs 20 years ago by combining metals with organic molecules, leading to over 20,000 types with diverse applications.
Applications include carbon capture from power plants, safer pesticide delivery, and targeted chemotherapy drug delivery due to biodegradability.
The future goal is widespread deployment to address societal problems in energy, environment, and medicine.
Yaghi has received numerous awards for his work, including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and is considered a Nobel contender.

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