A new material developed by BIDMaP researchers captures CO₂ from outdoor air with unprecedented speed, marking a critical leap toward practical direct air capture technology.
As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to climb, the scientific consensus is clear: reducing emissions alone is no longer enough. To avert the worst effects of climate change, scientists must also figure out a way to actively remove vast quantities of CO₂ that are already lingering in the sky.
One of the most promising technologies for this task is Direct Air Capture (DAC), machines that filter carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. But DAC faces a fundamental chemical challenge: CO₂ is extremely dilute in outdoor air (making up only 0.04% of the air we breathe). This makes CO₂ elusive and energy-intensive to catch.
Now, a team of researchers from Omar M. Yaghi’s Lab —whose pioneering work on reticular chemistry was recognized with the Nobel Prize in 2025—has reported a major breakthrough. In a study published today in Nature Sustainability, the team unveils COF-1000, a new material that captures carbon dioxide from outdoor air faster than any other material reported to date.
Zihui Zhou, a BIDMaP Postdoctoral Fellow and the study’s first author, pictured with senior author Professor Omar M. Yaghi, BIDMaP’s Chief Scientist.
The Need for Speed in Carbon Capture
For direct air capture to be viable at a global scale, materials don't just need to hold a lot of carbon; they need to catch it and release it quickly. Accelerating this catch-and-release cycle means facilities can be smaller and more efficient, significantly reducing the energy required to remove each ton of carbon.
“Fast cycling is a critical requirement for practical DAC systems,” Professor Yaghi noted. It is the defining difference between a theoretical curiosity and a scalable climate solution.
The new material belongs to a class of structures known as Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs). These are crystalline, porous materials constructed from lightweight elements linked into precise, repeating networks. Think of them as "molecular sponges" with internal pores that can be chemically tuned to trap specific guests.
From COF-999 to COF-1000: A Design Leap
COF-1000 builds directly on earlier work from the same research group. In previous studies, the team introduced COF-999, one of the first COF materials shown to efficiently capture CO₂ directly from outdoor air. COF-999 demonstrated strong capacity, stability, and relatively fast cycling, an important milestone for DAC materials.
But the researchers believed they could go further.
By redesigning the internal pore structure, they started with a framework featuring larger pores. This expanded "roominess" allowed them to load the material with a high density of CO₂-reactive amine groups while still preserving wide, open highways for gas transport. The result is COF-1000, a material that captures more carbon dioxide than its predecessor and does so roughly three times faster.
"I joined the Yaghi lab inspired by the idea that fundamental chemistry can be deliberately designed with purpose, and this project made that philosophy very tangible," said Zihui Zhou, a BIDMaP Postdoctoral Fellow and the study’s first author. "Working on a material that connects deep chemistry with an urgent global challenge has been incredibly meaningful, especially seeing this happen in a lab whose foundational ideas inspired our own scientific path, and contributing a piece that pushes those ideas one step further."
A Look Inside the “Sponge.” This diagram illustrates the structure of COF-1000. The grey framework forms a rigid, porous honeycomb. Inside these pores, researchers have chemically attached special chains of molecules (polyamines) that act like "sticky fingers." As air passes through the material, these chains actively grab and hold onto carbon dioxide.
Unprecedented Performance
Beyond its record-setting speed, COF-1000 also demonstrated long-term stability under realistic operating conditions, another key requirement for deployment outside the lab.
In laboratory tests using real outdoor air, the performance of COF-1000 was striking. The material reached 80 percent of its total capacity in just 20 minutes.
Even more impressive is its regeneration speed. COF-1000 can complete a full adsorption, desorption cycle, loading up on CO₂ and then releasing it, in only 90 minutes. At this rate, the material is capable of capturing an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to its own weight every single day.
“Taken together, the results establish COF-1000 as the fastest DAC material reported so far,” said Zhou. "It combines rapid kinetics with high capacity and long-term stability under realistic conditions."
A Scalable Future for Climate Mitigation
The study highlights how the precise control of reticular chemistry, tuning pore size and chemical functionality at the atomic level, can unlock new levels of performance that traditional materials cannot match.
Looking ahead, the team envisions scaling up COF-1000 for integration into coatings or structured systems suitable for future DAC plants. The researchers note that the material's already record-setting speeds could be further accelerated through device-level engineering, such as optimized airflow and reactor design.
The study highlights a central theme of BIDMaP’s research mission. “This work shows how deliberate, data-informed materials design can lead to breakthroughs that matter beyond the lab,” said Professor Yaghi, who is also BIDMaP’s Chief Scientist. “It’s an example of how fundamental chemistry, when guided by clear application goals, can contribute meaningfully to climate solutions.”
As the urgency of climate mitigation continues to grow, advances like COF-1000 offer a glimpse of how thoughtfully designed materials could help meet the challenge, pulling carbon dioxide from thin air, faster than ever before.
Support for this research was provided in part by the KACST–UC Berkeley Joint Collaboration and ATOCO, Inc.