MOFs: From Their Origins to the Nobel Prize

 

The term metal organic frameworks (MOFS was coined by Omar M. Yaghi in 1994, who later became the leading figure in the field. However, it was Richard Robson who had already laid the conceptual foundations for these structures back in 1989.

Later, in 1997, Susumu Kitagawa demonstrated the practical functionality of MOFs by showing their ability to store methane. 

These pioneering works in the field led to the synthesis of tens of thousands of compounds with promising applications.

For these achievements, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Omar M. Yaghi, Richard Robson, and Susumu Kitagawain recognition of their major contributions to the discovery of metal–organic frameworks.

But what exactly are these frameworks, and what are they used for?

MOFs are materials in which metal ions or clusters are linked by organic molecules, forming a regular, repeating pattern that creates a three-dimensional network. A key feature of these materials is that large cavities form in the space between the metallic nodes and the organic linkers, making them highly porous. Yaghi once noted that just one gram of a MOF can have an internal surface area roughly equivalent to two American football fields.

MOFs possess unique properties such as high surface area, low density, high flexibility, and tunable pore functionality, which make them suitable for a wide range of applications.

For instance, due to their high porosity, MOFs have been studied for hydrogen and methane storage. MOF-177, for example, has been reported to store up to 7.5 wt% hydrogen. They have also been used for CO₂ capture and nitrogen adsorption.

The use of MOFs has expanded into the biomedical field, particularly for drug delivery. Compared with other materials, they offer several advantages: adjustable pore size, high drug-loading capacity, and the ability to functionalize pore surfaces. For example, the MOFs MIL-53(Fe) and MIL-53(Cr) have been shown to store up to 17.4% ibuprofen with a prolonged release time of 21 days.

Their application has also been explored in lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes. Commercial LIBs typically use graphite anodes, which have a maximum capacity of 372 mAh/g. In comparison, a composite material consisting of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) particles encapsulated by the MOF HKUST-1 demonstrated a capacity of 1001.5 mAh/g — higher than that of pure magnetite (696 mAh/g) and graphite.

MOFs exhibit exceptional properties and remarkable versatility, as evidenced by their use across a wide variety of fields and technological devices. The numerous advances in their study and development were, without a doubt, the reason behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

For more information: Chemistry Nobel Prize

Dielectric Constant and Conductivity of Planar-Confined Water

 

Water is essential for life, and its properties have been extensively studied, yet little is known about its electrical behavior under interfacial or extreme confinement conditions.

In such states, water loses its bulk structure and adopts a laminar

arrangement, modifying its electrical conductivity, polarizability, and

the intermolecular forces that govern numerous physical and chemical processes.

In this work, the in-plane dielectric properties of water confined between two hBN layers—one flat and one patterned with channels—separated by up to 1 nm, were measured.

Scanning Dielectric Microscopy (SDM), based on an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), was employed to detect capacitance variations of the water confined within the channels formed on the hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) surface.

When the confinement exceeds several nanometers, the dielectric constant and conductivity of water approach their bulk values, and proton conduction increases. As the water layer thickness decreases, conductivity rises sharply, and when the thickness reaches only a few molecular layers, the in-plane dielectric constant attains values on the order of 1000—similar to those of ferroelectric materials—while conductivity reaches several S m⁻¹, comparable to that of superionic liquids.

Bulk water exhibits a high dielectric constant (ε_bulk ≈ 80) and a conductivity of approximately σ_bulk ≈ 10⁻⁵ S m⁻¹, values similar to those of a wide-bandgap semiconductor. This explains its ability to form hydrogen bonds and to dissolve more substances than any other liquid, producing strong dielectric screening essential for the biochemical processes of life.

Recent studies have shown that water confined between monolayers is

non-polarizable in the perpendicular direction (ε_⊥ ≈ 2), in agreement with theoretical predictions, although the parallel dielectric constant (ε_∥) remains experimentally unknown and theoretically unexplained.

This work demonstrates that under extreme molecular confinement, the electrical properties of 2D-confined water change dramatically, providing new insights into the electrical double layer and strongconfinement phenomena, and opening avenues for explaining interfacial and nanoconfined aqueousprocesses in other materials.

For further information see: Nature

Cat Video Made With Atoms

 

  

 

Quantum computing promises to solve problems that are impossible for classical computers. Instead of bits that can only be 0 or 1, quantum machines use qubits, which can exist in multiple states at once. This greatly increases computational power but also introduces major challenges: qubits are unstable and prone to errors.

Among the various platforms under development, Rydberg atom arrays stand out for their potential. In these systems, individual atoms are trapped using beams of light called optical tweezers. This technique offers high precision, allows flexible connections between atoms, and can be scaled up to very large systems. Thanks to these features, key steps toward quantum computing have already been demonstrated, including error correction and the simulation of complex physical phenomena.

A significant obstacle arises when loading atoms into the system: many positions in the array remain empty. To make full use of the system, the atoms must be rearranged to form a defect-free array. Traditional methods move atoms one by one, which is far too slow for systems containing thousands of particles.

The solution proposed by the cited research team combines artificial intelligence (AI) with a spatial light modulator (SLM). This device can modify a laser beam in real time and, guided by AI, shift all atoms in parallel toward their final positions. The process is divided into very small steps to minimize losses and errors.

Here is how it works: first, rubidium atoms are randomly loaded. A camera records their distribution, and a neural network identifies which sites are occupied. Then, the AI calculates the optimal route for each atom to move. Finally, the SLM generates light holograms that simultaneously guide all the atoms into their target positions, forming the desired array.

Using this technique, researchers succeeded in building the largest defect-free array ever reported: 2,024 perfectly ordered atoms. The paper shows a video of the famous Schroedinger cat made with atoms. This achievement brings us closer to more powerful quantum computers and opens the door to simulations of physical systems that are impossible to study with current technologies.

For further information and the Schroedinger Cat Video, see Phys. Rev. Letters

A new genomic editing strategy using lipid nanoparticles with spherical nucleic acids and CRISPR

 

CRISPR-Cas systems are a recently discovered biological tool that functions like “molecular scissors,” capable of locating and cutting specific fragments of DNA to modify or correct them with great precision. This gene-editing machinery has transformed biology by offering the possibility of correcting genetic errors.

However, one of its main challenges has been transporting the editing machinery safely and efficiently into cells, since traditional methods—such as viral vectors or lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)—often present issues like toxicity, low efficiency, or immune reactions.

A recent study proposes an innovative solution by encapsulating the CRISPR-Cas machinery inside lipid nanoparticles coated with spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), resulting in nanostructures of approximately 130 nm in size. The outer DNA layer facilitates entry into cells, while the lipid core stabilizes the CRISPR-Cas system and enables its controlled release. The lipid nanostructure includes both the plasmids that encode the CRISPR machinery, and the templates required for DNA repair by means of the HDR (homology-directed repair) pathway.

In summary, this design allows for improved cellular uptake of the nanoparticle, which in turn delivers the CRISPR-Cas machinery. It reduces toxicity and increases gene-editing efficiency.

The research team tested this strategy using different cell types and evaluating how many nanoparticles successfully entered the cells, if there were toxic effects, and whether the CRISPR machinery was effectively delivered. They then analyzed the cellular DNA to confirm if CRISPR had produced the expected edits.

The results showed that this system not only generated the typical nucleotide deletion edits but also enabled precise repairs by means of the HDR pathway. Compared with conventional LNPs, the new structures were more efficient, showed no toxicity, and maintained high cell viability even at elevated concentrations.

The researchers emphasized that these hybrid nanoparticles, called LNP-SNAs, could in the future be adapted to target specific organs. Thanks to their greater safety and efficacy, CRISPR-LNP-SNAs represent a versatile and scalable platform that brings gene-editing therapies closer to clinical application.

For further details, see: PNAS

Reconfigurable Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Channels

 

The rapid development of the internet and artificial intelligence has accelerated data generation, imposing greater demands on data processing. To process data efficiently, it is necessary to reduce device dimensions and operating voltage, thereby lowering energy consumption.

However, with current field-effect transistor (FET) technology, such as silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors, these improvements have met with physical limitations: when transistors become too small, electrical control issues arise. More specifically, size reduction is hindered by effects associated with short channel length; while lowering the voltage below 1 V is constrained by the Boltzmann limit, which depends on the constant ratio between the interaction potential and the mean free path of charge carriers.

Considering these limitations, reconfigurable transistors—capable of changing their operation after fabrication—offer a promising alternative. A special case is reconfigurable FeFETs, which can operate as either p-type or n-type transistors as needed.

A research team from Korea, the U.S., and China developed this type of devices using highly aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as semiconductor channels and an innovative ferroelectric material (aluminum–scandium nitride). These devices exhibit ambipolar carrier characteristics with high and well-balanced ON-state currents (~270 μA μm−1 at a drain voltage of 3 V) and ON/OFF ratios greater than 105, along with wide memory windows and excellent retention capability. Furthermore, they feature ternary memory capability (able to store -1, 0, or +1 instead of just 0 and 1). This means that more compact and efficient circuits can be built compared with those based on conventional silicon.

Further information in: Nature Communications

Homoepitaxial Growth of MoS₂ in a Rhombohedral Stacking

 

Two-dimensional (2D) materials possess unique properties that make them suitable for implementation in various technological devices. Manipulating and modifying the stacking order between layers is a way to tune their properties.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are important candidates for transistor downscaling. These materials are typically stacked in an arrangement known as 2H, consisting of two monolayers rotated by 180°. Inducing an alternative artificial stacking (for example, the rhombohedral stacking known as 3R, in which three monolayers are shifted without rotation) imparts exotic properties such as ferroelectricity, superconductivity, among others. However, inducing this type of stacking is not straightforward, due to the high thermodynamic stability of the 2H stacking.

Scientists from Chinese universities have succeeded in obtaining large-scale (on the order of centimeters) molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) with 3R stacking. Using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), they deposited a MoS₂ monolayer onto a sapphire substrate. Once the first monolayer was deposited, the nucleation process of the subsequent monolayer became crucial to achieving the desired stacking, since once formed, it cannot be rotated.

This study proposes, through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, that defects known as Mo antisites promote 3R stacking over 2H. Experimentally, the presence of such defects was demonstrated in samples with 3R stacking, while no such defects were observed in samples with 2H stacking, corroborating the proposed growth mechanism. The obtained samples were shown to exhibit ferroelectricity via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM).

Since 3R-MoS₂ is a semiconductor with ferroelectric characteristics, it is proposed for the fabrication of ferroelectric semiconductor field-effect transistors (FeS-FETs). Moreover, the advantage of obtaining high-quality, large-area samples ensures device reproducibility.

For more information go to:

nature materials

Flexible Selenium Nanowires with Tuneable Electronic Bangaps

 

Changes in the size and geometric shape of nanoparticles allow for the manipulation of semiconductor properties without altering their chemical composition. However, a challenge remains: depending on the synthesis method, the size distribution of the nanoparticles can vary.

The use of nanotube molds to form selenium nanowires is part of a broader strategy that employs nanostructured templates to control the growth of one-dimensional nanomaterials.

Although selenium naturally crystallizes into elongated structures due to its anisotropic nature, templates such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), anodic aluminum oxide, or other hollow nanostructures enable precise control over the nanowire’s unidirectional growth, size, orientation, and uniformity, while also protecting the material during formation. These core–shell structures, with a selenium core and a protective nanotube shell, have applications in nanoelectronics, photoconductors, and energy storage.

British researchers discovered distinct structural phases of selenium when confined within carbon and boron nitride nanotubes, observing remarkable structural plasticity in nanowires with diameters ranging from 0.4 to 3.0 nm. The experiment used one sample of boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) and four carbon nanotube (CNT) samples of different diameters, all under identical experimental conditions. Selenium was sublimed to fill the nanotubes, forming Se@CNT and Se@BNNT structures, in order to study exclusively the effect of nanotube diameter on the resulting selenium structure.

They found that the bandgap width of these nanowires, between 2.2 and 2.5 eV, depends non-monotonically on the diameter of the nanotube. This is due to conformational distortions in the selenium chains counteracting quantum confinement effects at sub-nanometric scales.

The authors developed a one-dimensional phase diagram that predicts the atomic structure of selenium as a function of the nanotube diameter, regardless of the host nanotube’s chemical composition. This demonstrates that confinement within nanotubes enables precise tuning of the structure and electronic properties of selenium. The materials were characterized using advanced electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to determine the bandgaps.

These nanoscale discoveries pave the way for the development of advanced, miniaturized, tunable, and flexible electronic components, such as transistors, optical sensors, and photovoltaic systems.

For further details, go to: Advanced Materials