Three Scientists Win 2025 Nobel Chemistry Prize for Porous Materials

Three pioneering scientists have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), highly porous crystalline materials with revolutionary applications in environmental technology and energy storage. Susumu Kitagawa of Japan's Kyoto University, Richard Robson of Australia's University of Melbourne, and Omar M. Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley will share this prestigious honor for creating what the Nobel Committee described as "molecular sponges" with extraordinary capacity to capture and store specific molecules.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized the trio for designing these customizable frameworks that combine metal ions with organic molecules to create vast internal surface areas - just one gram of some MOFs can have a surface area equivalent to a football field. "Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions," said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, during the announcement in Stockholm.

These remarkable materials demonstrate exceptional versatility in addressing critical environmental and energy problems. MOFs can harvest drinking water from desert air by capturing atmospheric moisture, purify contaminated water by filtering out pollutants, capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources, and safely store hydrogen for clean energy applications. Their highly tunable nature allows scientists to design frameworks with specific pore sizes tailored to trap particular molecules.

The 2025 chemistry laureates follow last year's winners who were honored for breakthroughs in computational protein design. The Nobel Prizes, established from the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, have been awarded since 1901 and represent the highest international recognition in their respective fields. The awards have been suspended 49 times throughout history, primarily during World Wars I and II, and most recently during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The three chemistry laureates will receive their medals at the traditional ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.