The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been bestowed upon the material known as 'Metal-Organic Framework' (MOF).

The three awardees are Japanese scholar Susumu Kitagawa, Australian scholar Richard Robson, and Jordanian-American scholar Omar M. Yaghi.

The once obscure and niche professional term, MOF, has suddenly gained widespread recognition. Why does this 'Metal-Organic Framework' merit such an honor? What is the potential for 'commercial deployment' of this technology in China?

Metal-Organic Framework materials are three-dimensional crystalline networks built through coordination chemistry. They utilize metal ions (or metal clusters) as nodes and organic ligands (typically containing carboxyl, amino, or other functional groups) as linkers, resulting in stable, porous, and adjustable structures.

Their core features encompass three main aspects:

Designable Porosity: MOFs often feature regular channels and cavities, boasting extremely high specific surface areas. A few grams of this 'powder' can possess an internal surface area comparable to that of a football field.

Flexible or 'Breathing' Structures: Some MOFs undergo structural 'expansion and contraction' deformations (known as breathing behavior) when adsorbing or desorbing molecules. This characteristic was first confirmed by Susumu Kitagawa and his team.

Multifunctional Modifiability: By selecting metal nodes, organic ligands, and modifying them with auxiliary groups, we can endow MOFs with functions such as adsorption, catalysis, and ion or electron transport.

Richard Robson was the first to conceptually envision assembling metal-ligand combinations into ordered structures, like a 'molecular diamond' structure. Susumu Kitagawa advanced the understanding of reversible gas entry/release and challenged theories on flexible structures. Omar Yaghi systematically advanced the directions of MOF designability and stabilization.

Compared to traditional porous materials (such as zeolites, activated carbon, and silica gel), MOFs bring innovations in 'precision design' and 'functional integration.' You can custom-make pore sizes, chemical environments, and even catalytic active sites for target molecules.

Over the past few years, many MOFs that performed excellently in laboratories tended to collapse, become more expensive, or exhibit structural instability when exposed to moisture, water, or large-scale synthesis.

Currently, MOFs are still predominantly research-oriented, but recent trends clearly indicate a shift towards practical applications and cross-disciplinary integration.

Recent reports reveal that a research team from Monash University in Australia has utilized MOFs to construct nanoscale fluidic chips. These devices not only regulate ion transport but also exhibit nonlinear behaviors such as 'memristance' and 'threshold control,' possessing neuron-like 'short-term memory' functions.

These MOF-based nanofluidic devices (known as h-MOFNT) achieve voltage-current nonlinear responses, transition effects, and hysteresis loops at extremely thin layers, exhibiting behaviors akin to those of electronic devices.

If this approach matures, MOFs will transcend their role as mere materials for 'gas storage and adsorption' and could potentially enter the information chip arena, complementing traditional electronic components.

Applications that have long piqued the interest of MOF researchers include:

Currently, only a handful of MOFs have been commercialized. Canadian company Svante employs a MOF named CALF-20 for CO2 capture in cement plant emissions.

However, as technological pathways become clearer, issues such as material durability, synthesis costs, large-scale preparation, and structural consistency are being systematically addressed. Future MOFs will witness more intersections in the directions of 'materials + devices + system integration.'

From the perspectives of industrial foundations, national strategic needs, market size, and policy environments, China possesses the potential and advantages for applying MOF technology.

China boasts an extensive industrial layout in areas such as carbon neutrality, carbon capture, hydrogen energy, environmental protection materials, semiconductors, and new energy. This translates to a broad demand for applications in gas purification, CO2 capture, water treatment, molecular separation and filtration, desulfurization and denitrification, and hydrogen energy storage. The high selectivity, adjustable pore size, and modifiability of MOFs align perfectly with these needs.

At the same time, China enjoys an extremely complete and relatively low-cost chemical, fine chemical, and materials industry chain. This means that from organic ligands, metal precursors, synthesis equipment, and large-scale preparation to downstream processing and device packaging, China provides a conducive ecosystem for MOF applications.

China has long incorporated 'carbon peaking, carbon neutrality, and ecological environmental protection' into its national strategic goals. Whether it's reducing industrial emissions, CCS (Carbon Capture, Sequestration, and Utilization), air and water treatment, or hydrogen energy and energy transitions, the 'molecular sieve/catalysis/adsorption/separation' track involving MOFs is likely to receive policy priorities, funding subsidies, and project support.

Overall, China can offer MOF applications a high degree of fault tolerance and market capacity at the policy, capital, and engineering capability levels.

In China, numerous large enterprises or research institutions can take the lead in adopting MOF materials or MOF components in water treatment plants, factory exhaust gas treatment, hydrogen stations, and energy storage battery systems. This demonstration effect may rapidly drive the industrialization process. Compared to the fragmented markets, high costs, and complex regulations in Western countries, China's centralized promotion and large-scale trials are more efficient.

Additionally, Chinese research teams have been highly active in the field of MOFs/functional materials. Many top teams have mature expertise in areas such as material design, defect engineering, computational screening, and synergistic catalysis. The award effect is expected to attract more capital and talent, enabling China to take the lead in laying out and achieving breakthroughs in the global MOF commercialization race.

In fact, many industry observers are already discussing that if MOF technology is to achieve industrialization and high-quality implementation in the future, China will be the most likely 'first market.'

References:

https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_31741834

https://www.icems.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/people/frontrunners/1260/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03195-1

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2025/popular-information/

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7882