The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) — porous crystalline materials constructed from metal ions and organic linkers. These molecular architectures can be fine-tuned to capture, store or transform gases with remarkable efficiency.
Announcing the award, Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said: “Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences noted that MOFs are already being explored for carbon capture, water purification, and gas storage, stating: “Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges, with applications that include separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air.” (Nobel Prize Press Release, 8 October 2025)
Energy and environmental scientists have quickly highlighted the significance of this work. Dr Becky Greenaway, a chemist at Imperial College London, explained: “The discovery has enabled a whole range of applications, from gas storage and separations to drug delivery, and also opened up other areas, including porous liquids — which are showing promise in carbon capture and catalysis.” Similarly, Lars Broström, science editor at Sveriges Radio, told AFP: “That chemistry can be a catalyst for all kinds of things related to both climate and the environment.”
These porous frameworks are already under study for hydrogen storage, methane separation, and direct air capture, and may play a pivotal role in the hydrogen economy. By allowing gases to be stored safely and selectively at moderate pressures, MOFs could make hydrogen fuel and industrial gas processes far more energy-efficient.
The researchers have shown that molecular design is becoming as vital to the energy transition as turbines and photovoltaics. While large-scale deployment faces challenges — including cost, moisture stability and production scaling — this Nobel recognition has brought MOFs to the forefront of both materials science and energy policy.
Quantum Circuits and the Physics of Efficiency
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics went to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for discovering macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in electrical circuits — work that proved quantum effects can govern the behaviour of entire devices, not just individual particles. “These discoveries opened a new field of physics,” said Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
“These discoveries opened a new field of physics,” said Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics in the Nobel Prize Press Release on 7 October 2025. “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises. It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
The Royal Swedish Academy added that the discoveries have “provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors.” In an interview following the announcement, Michel Devoret reflected modestly on the recognition: “I thought it was a prank. The quantum computer is not here yet.” Meanwhile, John Clarke highlighted how deeply this fundamental science underpins modern technology: “I’m speaking on my cell phone … one of the underlying reasons that the cell phone works is because of all this work.”
The implications for the energy sector are profound. Quantum sensors, derived from the same superconducting circuits studied by the laureates, could one day monitor power grids with extreme sensitivity — detecting inefficiencies or faults before they cascade into failures. Superconducting materials, which conduct electricity with virtually no resistance, also hint at the possibility of near-lossless energy transmission in specialised environments. Richard Fitzgerald, Editor-in-Chief of Physics Today, observed: “This year’s Nobel Prize marks an important advance connecting our understanding of quantum behaviour at a fundamental level to today’s developments in quantum computing, which is already being put to work.”
Convergence at the Frontier
Taken together, these two Nobel awards reflect a single, broader story — the convergence of molecular precision and quantum control in the service of cleaner, smarter energy systems. MOFs promise to make carbon and hydrogen management vastly more efficient, while quantum technologies may revolutionise sensing, computation and materials discovery. Future laboratories could use quantum simulation to design the next generation of MOFs or catalysts, accelerating breakthroughs that once took decades. Meanwhile, advanced quantum sensors might monitor CO₂ capture units or hydrogen storage networks in real time, linking the chemical and digital revolutions. “Quantum precision and molecular design are converging — shaping the future of energy from two different directions.”
A Scientific Signal for the Energy Transition
For the renewables community, these awards send a clear message: the transition to net zero depends not only on scaling wind, solar and storage, but also on deep scientific innovation at the atomic and quantum levels. The 2025 Nobel Prizes celebrate work that bridges the gap between theory and practice — between the chemistry of porous materials and the physics of superconducting circuits. Both are essential to a future where energy is abundant, efficient and environmentally sustainable. As The Voice of Renewables has long argued, progress in the lab is every bit as vital as progress in the field. This year’s laureates remind us that the clean-energy transition begins not only with policy or investment, but with imagination and discovery. “The next great leap in clean energy may not come from a power plant — but from a laboratory bench.”
