Imagine a material so porous that a single gram has an internal surface area comparable to a football pitch. Now imagine tuning that material so it grabs CO₂ from a factory chimney, or even from the air, and releases it on demand. That's the promise of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), the materials behind the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Can they really make carbon capture cheaper and cleaner? Let's look at how they work, where they're already being tested, why the electrochemical approach is attracting so much attention, and what still stands in the way.
What MOFs are, in plain English
Think of a MOF as a molecular "scaffold". Metal ions or clusters (such as zinc, copper or magnesium) act as joints, and organic molecules act as the rods connecting them. The result is a crystalline structure full of tiny, regular pores.
Why does this matter?
- Huge surface area: some MOFs have thousands of square metres of internal surface per gram.
- Tunable pores: chemists can design the pore size and chemistry to "prefer" CO₂ over nitrogen or oxygen.
- Thousands of variations: by changing metals and linkers, researchers have created tens of thousands of different MOFs.
In 2025, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for developing these materials. The award recognised decades of work that have taken MOFs from a laboratory curiosity to a serious candidate for climate technology.
Why carbon capture needs new materials
Some emissions are very hard to eliminate. In cement, for example, much of the CO₂ comes from the chemical process itself, not from fuel. To reach net zero, industry will need carbon capture and storage (CCS), and the world will also need to remove CO₂ already in the atmosphere.
The established method is amine scrubbing: a liquid solution absorbs CO₂ from flue gas, and is then heated (typically above 100°C) to release it. It works, but heating the solvent again and again consumes a lot of energy, which drives up costs. Solid materials like MOFs aim to capture CO₂ with less energy per tonne.
| Liquid amines | Solid sorbents / MOFs | Electrochemical capture | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How CO₂ is released | Heating the solvent | Mild heating or pressure change | Changing the voltage |
| Energy needs | High | Lower (depends on material) | Potentially low, uses electricity |
| Maturity | Commercial | Pilot and early commercial | Mainly laboratory and pilot |
| Main challenge | Energy cost, solvent degradation | Durability, humidity, cost at scale | Scale-up, long-term stability |
From the lab to the chimney: MOFs in real-world tests
MOFs are no longer just a lab topic. A good example is CALF-20, a zinc-based MOF developed at the University of Calgary. It's relatively cheap to make, stable in humid flue gas, and has been tested by the company Svante in carbon capture filters, including a pilot at a cement plant in Canada. Chemical companies have already begun producing it at industrial scale.
Researchers are also studying MOFs for direct air capture (DAC), pulling CO₂ straight from the atmosphere. Facilities in Iceland already capture CO₂ from the air with other sorbents and store it underground, where it turns into stone. Today, DAC costs several hundred dollars per tonne of CO₂. Better materials are one of the keys to bringing that cost down.
Electrochemical capture: carbon capture that works like a battery
This is where things get really interesting. Instead of releasing CO₂ with heat, electrochemical capture uses electricity. Apply a voltage and the material grabs CO₂. Change the voltage and it lets the CO₂ go. The material is then ready for the next cycle, much like charging and discharging a battery.
Why does this matter?
- No high temperatures: the process can run at room temperature.
- Clean power: it can run on electricity from solar and wind, making it a natural partner for renewables.
- Precise control: capture and release can be switched on and off as needed.
The idea of "electro-swing" capture was demonstrated by MIT researchers in 2019 with other electroactive materials, and it has since led to start-up companies. Because some MOFs can conduct electricity, they're natural candidates for this approach. Conductive copper-based MOFs, such as Cu₃(HHTP)₂, are being studied in laboratories as electrodes that could capture and release CO₂ on command. Most of this work is still at the research stage, and the reported performance varies widely between studies.
What still stands in the way
- Scale: going from grams in the lab to tonnes in a factory is a huge leap.
- Durability: materials must survive thousands of cycles, moisture and impurities such as sulphur compounds in real flue gas.
- Cost: some organic linkers are expensive, and cheap, robust MOFs like CALF-20 are still the exception.
- Selectivity: in the air, CO₂ is only about 0.04%. Capturing it efficiently, without also capturing water vapour, is a major challenge.
- Storage and use: captured CO₂ needs a destination, either permanent geological storage or conversion into products. Read more about converting CO₂ into fuels.
What it means for industry and the climate
For heavy industry, carbon capture is becoming a business question. With the EU carbon price and the end of free allowances for sectors such as cement and steel, every tonne of CO₂ captured is a tonne that doesn't need an allowance. See how costs are distributed by sector in our breakdown of EUA costs and benefits.
Greece is also part of the story. A project is being developed to store CO₂ permanently in the depleted Prinos field off Kavala, one of the EU's priority projects for carbon storage. Projects like this give captured CO₂ somewhere to go.
One thing must be clear, though: carbon capture doesn't replace emission cuts. It's a tool for the emissions we can't yet avoid, alongside renewable energy, energy efficiency and electrification, not instead of them.
Frequently asked questions
What are MOFs used for besides CO₂ capture?
MOFs are studied for storing gases such as hydrogen, harvesting water from desert air, separating gases, catalysis, sensors and removing pollutants from water.
Why did MOFs win the Nobel Prize?
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognised Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for creating a new type of molecular architecture with huge internal spaces that can be designed for specific tasks.
Is electrochemical CO₂ capture commercially available?
Not yet at large scale. The first start-ups are testing pilot systems, but most electrochemical approaches, especially those based on MOFs, are still at the research stage.
Can carbon capture solve climate change on its own?
No. It's an important tool for hard-to-abate sectors and for removing CO₂ from the air, but the main path is still to stop emitting: renewables, efficiency and electrification.
The takeaway
MOFs went from a chemistry curiosity to a Nobel Prize and from the lab bench to cement plant filters. Combined with electrochemical capture powered by renewable electricity, they could make carbon capture cheaper and cleaner. The road to industrial scale is still long, but the direction is clear: smarter materials will be part of the climate solution.
Do you think carbon capture is a real solution or a distraction from cutting emissions? Share this article and your view, and for the terms you came across, check our CO₂ Term Glossary.