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 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 ...

A sponge to soak up carbon dioxide in the air

February 22, 2021
by Julie Chao | Berkeley Lab

smokestacks

Berkeley Lab is pursuing a portfolio of negative emissions technologies and related research to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Photo courtesy Jeffrey Reimer)

Human activity is now leading to the equivalent of 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere each year, putting us on track to increase the planet’s temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius over...

A network of cubes opens the door for new COF chemistry

October 29, 2020
by Ariana Remmel | C&EN

illustration of a newly designed COF is composed of repeating borophosphonate cubes linked at the vertices

A new covalent organic framework uses boron and phosphorus to make complex connections. This new COF is composed of repeating borophosphonate cubes linked at the vertices. O = red; B = pink; P...

Hidden atomic patterns discovered in mixed-metal MOFs

August 18, 2020
Fernando Gomollón-Bell | Chemistry World

Atom probe tomography

Atom probe tomography determines the so-far undiscovered sequences that exist in mixed-metal MOFs (carbon = grey, oxygen = white, metals = blue, green, pink and orange) Source: © Science/AAAS

Layer-by-layer laser slicing of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has...

Programmable synthetic materials

August 7, 2020
By Robert Sanders | UC Berkeley media relations

Omar Yaghi, multivariate MOF

Rods of multivariate MOFs (left) can be programmed with different metal atoms (colored balls) to do a series of tasks, such as controlled drug release, or to encode information like the ones and zeros of a digital computer. (UC Berkeley image by Omar Yaghi and Zhe Ji)

Berkeley, CA — Artificial molecules could...

Jeffrey Long receives 2020 Royal Society of Chemistry award

June 24, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

Jeffrey Long

The College of Chemistry is pleased announce that Professor Jeffrey Long has received a 2020 award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Society annualy recognizes leaders in various fields of chemistry around the world. This year, the Society acknowledged over 80 individuals and teams for their exceptional achievements in advancing the chemical sciences through their work in everything from education and research, to innovation, policy and volunteering.

Omar Yaghi receives 2020 Royal Society of Chemistry award

June 24, 2020
College of Chemistry Press Release

Omar Yaghi

The College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce that Professor Omar Yaghi has received the 2020 Sustainable Water award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Society annualy recognizes leaders in various fields of chemistry around the world. This year, the Society acknowledged over 80 individuals and teams for their exceptional achievements in advancing the chemical sciences through their work in everything from education and research, to innovation, policy and volunteering.

Omar Yaghi: 2019 Innovator of the Year

April 19, 2020
By Patricia Miller | Innovation and Tech Today

Omar Yahgi

Scientific Advances transform our lives in miraculous ways. For chemistry and UC Berkeley Professor Omar Yaghi, his pioneering work has already impacted countless lives and will continue shaping the development of mankind for centuries to come. He’s published more than 300 scientific articles, which are referenced so frequently that he is among the top five most highly cited chemists in the world.

Watering Deserts: new ways to pluck water from desert air

February 19, 2020
Science & Technology | economist.com

water adsorption

Adsorption is a process which plucks water molecules from air that has less than 100% relative humidity by attaching them to the surface of a solid material. The molecules are held there by electrostatic connections called Van der Waals forces that link them with the molecules of the pertinent surface. To collect a lot of water this way therefore requires a material that has two properties. One is a large surface area. The other is an appropriate Van der Waals response. Experimental traps that employ this principle have been made using substances called metal-organic frameworks.