MOFs / COFs

COFs and their cousin materials, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), are porous three-dimensional crystals with extraordinarily large internal surface areas that can absorb and store enormous quantities of targeted molecules. Invented by UC Berkeley's Professor Omar Yaghi, COFs and MOFs consist of molecules (organics for COFs and metal-organics for MOFs) that are stitched into large and extended netlike frameworks whose structures are held together by strong chemical bonds. Such frameworks show great promise for, among other applications, carbon sequestration.

Omar Yaghi featured in Time.com article on climate change

September 11, 2023
By Leigh Moyer | College of Chemistry
In a Times.com article entitled 'A World Renowned Chemist Wants to Suck Water, and Carbon, Out of the Air', Omar Yaghi discusses his MOF water harvesting technology and his company Atoco.

ChatGPT accelerates chemistry discovery for climate response, study shows

August 7, 2023
By Rachel Leven | Berkeley Computing, Data Science, and Society
UC Berkeley experts taught ChatGPT how to quickly create datasets on difficult-to-aggregate research about certain materials that can be used to fight climate change, according to a new paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Hand-held water harvester powered by sunlight could combat water scarcity

July 6, 2023
By Rachel Leven | Berkeley Computing, Data Science, and Society

Omar Yaghi

Omar Yaghi, the inventor of MOFs, led the study on MOF-powered water harvesters that was published July 6 in Nature Water. (Photo courtesy of Omar Yaghi)

UC Berkeley researchers have designed an extreme-weather proven, hand-held device that can extract and convert water molecules from the air into drinkable water using only ambient sunlight as its energy source, a...

https://data.berkeley.edu/news/hand-held-water-harvester-powered-sunlight-could-…

Omar Yaghi awarded the Wilhelm Exner medal

June 1, 2023
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Professor Omar Yaghi receives the Exner medal during a ceremony in Vienna, Austria

Professor Omar Yaghi receives a medal and diploma from members of the Wilhelm Exner Foundation during a banquet in May 2023 in Vienna, Austria. Photo Jana Madzigon, courtesy of the Wilhelm Exner Foundation.

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New institute brings together chemistry and machine learning to tackle climate change

September 21, 2022
By Rachel Leven | Berkeley Computing, Data Science, and Society

Omar Yaghi

Image: Professor Omar Yaghi in his office. Photo College of Chemistry.

Imagine a technology that could remove planet-warming emissions from smokestacks, turn moisture in the air into drinking water and transform carbon dioxide into clean energy.

A new UC Berkeley institute will bring together top machine learning and chemistry researchers to make this vision a reality, and...

Omar Yaghi elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

May 26, 2022
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Omar M. Yaghi

The College of Chemistry is pleased to announce that Omar M. Yaghi, UC Berkeley James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prof. Yaghi joins actor Glenn Close, novelist Salman Rushdie, and...

Omar Yaghi awarded the inaugural VinFuture Special Prize

January 24, 2022
VinFuture Prize Press Release

Omar Yaghi at the VinFuture award ceremony - Vietnam

The first Special Prize, dedicated to “Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields”, is awarded to Professor Omar Yaghi (USA) for his work on discovering metal-organic frameworks. — Photo courtsey VinFuture Prize

The first VinFuture Special Prize for Innovators with...

ExxonMobil collaborates on discovery of new material to enhance carbon capture technology

August 2, 2021
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Researching the development of a sustainable energy future

Scientists from ExxonMobil, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a new material that could capture more than 90 percent of CO2 emitted from industrial sources, such as natural gas-fired power plants, using low-temperature steam,...

Omar Yaghi receives the Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award

July 13, 2021
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Omar Yaghi

The 14th Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award goes to Omar M. Yaghi, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences. The Award Committee, comprised of jurors Prof. Dr. Joachim Sauer (...

Portable oasis: GE and its partners plan to build a box to produce water from air

March 23, 2021
Chris Noon| GE Renewable Energy

Test of water extracted from air

Image courtesy of GE.

Keeping enemies on the run is all part of the job for soldiers in the U.S. Army, yet troops stationed in the world’s hot spots frequently face another relentless foe: thirst. But scientists at GE Research and their partners at U.S. universities including ...