In October 2025, the world of chemistry celebrated a milestone when Susumu Kitagawa at Kyoto University in Japan, Richard Robson at the University of Melbourne Australia, and Omar M. Yaghi at the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their pioneering work in developing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), crystalline materials with tuneable architectures. This recognition highlights not only decades of foundational research but also the dawn of a new materials era, one defined by engineered porosity, molecular design, and sustainability. MOFs, once confined to academic curiosity, are now being realized as functional materials for clean energy, catalysis, sensing, and environmental remediation.
We at Goodfellow join the global scientific community in celebrating the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi for their pioneering work on Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a discovery that opens new horizons for innovation in energy, environment, and technology.
The Chemistry Behind MOFs
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), also known as porous coordination polymers (PCPs), are a class of crystalline, porous materials built by linking metal ions or clusters called secondary building units (SBUs), with multidentate organic linkers. This assembly creates highly ordered frameworks with permanent porosity, remarkable surface areas, and tuneable chemical functionality. The ability to vary both the metal nodes and organic linkers allows chemists to design frameworks with tailored pore sizes, geometries, and chemical environments, resulting in thousands of unique MOFs synthesized each year.
The rapid expansion of MOF research is fuelled by several pivotal advances: breakthroughs in cluster and coordination chemistry, sophisticated ligand synthesis and post-synthetic modification, and cutting-edge structural characterization through X-ray crystallography and computational modelling. At the same time, the interdisciplinary integration of MOF science with fields such as catalysis, separations, energy, and biomedicine has accelerated innovation. Together, these developments have unlocked the extraordinary potential of MOFs for gas storage and separation, catalysis, chemical sensing, water purification, drug delivery, and energy-related applications, positioning them as versatile materials for both research and industrial use.
.jpg "Iron projecting into the pore of the tubelike metal-organic framework")
Building the Framework: MOF Synthesis
Metal-Organic Frameworks are formed by linking metal ions or clusters with organic ligands under controlled reaction conditions, typically using solvothermal methods. The characteristics of the ligands, including their size, shape, and flexibility, play a key role in determining the framework’s final architecture. In addition to traditional solvothermal synthesis, MOFs can be prepared via hydrothermal, electrochemical, mechanochemical, sono chemical, nitrogen-doping, high-throughput, or microwave-assisted techniques.
Harnessing the Potential of MOFs
The remarkable porosity, tuneable structure, and chemical versatility of MOFs make them a highly adaptable class of materials with applications across energy, environment, catalysis, and biomedical fields. By precisely controlling the metal nodes, organic linkers, and pore architecture, MOFs can be tailored to address complex challenges, from gas storage and separation to drug delivery, water purification, and advanced energy technologies.
- Gas Storage & Separation: MOFs’ exceptional porosity and surface area, allow them to efficiently capture and store gases such as hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. Their tuneable pore sizes and chemical environments make them highly selective, providing safer and more efficient alternatives to traditional gas storage methods, with potential applications in clean energy technologies.
- Catalysis: MOFs function as heterogeneous catalysts for both gas and liquid-phase reactions. Open metal sites and customizable pore chemistry enable precise control over reaction selectivity, including fine chemical synthesis, nitrogen-containing heterocycles, and CO₂ conversion, making them a versatile platform for industrial catalysis.
- Environmental & Water Applications: MOFs can capture and remove pollutants from water and air, including toxic gases, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous compounds. Their ability to selectively adsorb contaminants makes them valuable for water purification, environmental remediation, and sustainable chemical processing.
- Biomedical Applications: Nano-MOFs are being explored for drug delivery, imaging, and controlled release, leveraging their high drug-loading capacity, biocompatibility, and tuneable pore structures.
- Energy & Photocatalysis: MOFs serve as light-harvesting and photocatalytic platforms, enabling solar energy conversion, proton reduction, CO₂ reduction, and water oxidation. Their structural flexibility and functional tunability make them suitable for next-generation energy applications including supercapacitors and fuel cells.
- Magnetic & Electronic Materials: Certain MOFs exhibit magnetic, multiferroic, or conductive properties, enabling applications in magnetic sensing, data storage, and battery electrodes. MOFs can also be transformed into porous carbon or metal oxide derivatives, enhancing conductivity and charge storage for energy devices.
- Sensors & Detection: MOFs’ high porosity, tuneable chemical environments, and luminescent properties make them ideal for chemical and biological sensing. They can selectively interact with gases, ions, or molecules, allowing for the detection of volatile organic compounds, toxic gases, or environmental pollutants at very low concentrations. Luminescent MOFs can be engineered to change their emission properties in response to specific analytes, enabling applications in temperature sensing, molecular detection, and real-time environmental monitoring.
Enabling MOFs with Goodfellow Materials
Goodfellow offers a wide range of high-purity metals and metal salts that serve as the essential building blocks for MOF synthesis. Designed for precision and consistency, our materials from transition metals and lanthanides to specialty salts and powders enable reproducible and reliable framework construction. With a portfolio that includes powders, substrates, and specialty compounds tailored for both research and industrial use, Goodfellow empowers scientists and engineers to develop MOFs for catalysis, gas storage, separation technologies, sensing, and biomedical applications, transforming molecular design ideas into functional, high-performance materials.
Goodfellow Materials Used in MOF Research
Goodfellow Material |
Research Papers |
|
| Aluminum Foil | Zhang W, Cai G, Wu R, He Z, Yao HB, Jiang HL, Yu SH. Templating synthesis of metal–organic framework nanofiber aerogels and their derived hollow porous carbon nanofibers for energy storage and conversion. Small. 2021 Dec;17(48):2004140. | Research Paper Link |
| Titanium Foil | Lin R, Yao Y, Zulkifli MY, Li X, Gao S, Huang W, Smart S, Lyu M, Wang L, Chen V, Hou J. Binder-free mechanochemical metal–organic framework nanocrystal coatings. Nanoscale. 2022;14(6):2221-9. | Research Paper Link |
| Copper Foil | da Silva GG, Machado FL, Junior SA, Padrón-Hernández E. Metal-organic framework: Structure and magnetic properties of [Cu3 (BTC) 2 (L) x·(CuO) y] n (L= H2O, DMF). Journal of Solid State Chemistry. 2017 Sep 1;253:1-5. | Research Paper Link |
| Nickel Foam | Díaz R, Orcajo MG, Botas JA, Calleja G, Palma J. Co8-MOF-5 as electrode for supercapacitors. Materials letters. 2012 Feb 1;68:126-8. | Resarch Paper Link |
| Yang F, Li W, Tang B. Facile synthesis of amorphous UiO-66 (Zr-MOF) for supercapacitor application. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 2018 Feb 5;733:8-14. | Resarch Paper Link | |
| Kim SC, Choi SQ, Park J. Asymmetric supercapacitors using porous carbons and iron oxide electrodes derived from a single Fe metal-organic framework (MIL-100 (Fe)). Nanomaterials. 2023 Jun 8;13(12):1824. | Resarch Paper Link | |
| Iron Rod | Shi Z, Lin N. Structural and chemical control in assembly of multicomponent metal− organic coordination networks on a surface. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2010 Aug 11;132(31):10756-61. | Resarch Paper Link |
| Platinum Wire | Abdelkader-Fernandez VK, Fernandes DM, Balula SS, Cunha-Silva L, Pérez-Mendoza MJ, Lopez-Garzon FJ, Pereira MF, Freire C. Noble-metal-free MOF-74-derived nanocarbons: insights on metal composition and doping effects on the electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reactions. ACS Applied Energy Materials. 2019 Feb 11;2(3):1854-67. | Resarch Paper Link |
| Graphite Foil | Sielicki K, Chen X, Mijowska E. The role of aluminium in metal–organic frameworks derived carbon doped with cobalt in electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction. Materials & Design. 2023 Jul 1;231:112021. | Resarch Paper Link |
| Zinc Foil | Nam KW, Park SS, Dos Reis R, Dravid VP, Kim H, Mirkin CA, Stoddart JF. Conductive 2D metal-organic framework for high-performance cathodes in aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries. Nature communications. 2019 Oct 30;10(1):4948. | Resarch Paper Link |
| 304 Stainless Steel Foil | ||
