Record-Breaking "Molecular Sponge" Pulls Carbon From Air 3x Faster Than Ever Before

⚡ 80% capacity reached in 20 minutes — The material can capture an amount of CO₂ equal to its own weight every single day

The Carbon Challenge

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, we must actively remove vast quantities of CO₂ that are already lingering in the sky.

But there's a fundamental problem: carbon dioxide makes up only 0.04% of outdoor air. Catching it is like trying to fish for a single specific molecule in an ocean of nitrogen and oxygen. It's energy-intensive, slow, and expensive.

Until now.

A Nobel Prize Winner's Lab Delivers

Researchers from Omar M. Yaghi's lab at UC Berkeley — whose pioneering work on reticular chemistry earned him the Nobel Prize in 2025 — have reported a major breakthrough in the journal Nature Sustainability.

The team unveiled COF-1000, a new material that captures carbon dioxide from outdoor air faster than any other material ever reported.

"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. Working on a material that connects deep chemistry with an urgent global challenge has been incredibly meaningful."

— Dr. Zihui Zhou, BIDMaP Postdoctoral Fellow and study's first author

What Makes COF-1000 Special?

COF-1000 belongs to a class of structures called Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) — think of them as "molecular sponges" with microscopic pores chemically designed to trap specific molecules.

Here's what makes it revolutionary:

• Record-breaking speed: Reaches 80% capacity in just 20 minutes using real outdoor air
• Rapid cycling: Completes full capture-and-release in 90 minutes (3x faster than its predecessor COF-999)
• Daily capacity: Can capture CO₂ equal to its own weight every single day
• Long-term stability: Maintains performance under realistic operating conditions

The Design Breakthrough

COF-1000 builds on the team's earlier work with COF-999. By redesigning the internal pore structure with larger "rooms," they created space to pack in more CO₂-grabbing amine groups while preserving wide highways for gas transport.

The result? More carbon captured, three times faster.

🔬 Published in Nature Sustainability — peer-reviewed, credible, and verified by the world's leading scientific journal for sustainability research

Why Speed Matters

Professor Yaghi explains why rapid cycling is critical: "Fast cycling is a critical requirement for practical DAC systems. It is the defining difference between a theoretical curiosity and a scalable climate solution."

In practical terms: faster cycling means smaller facilities, lower energy costs, and more affordable carbon removal. Instead of building football-field-sized plants, we could deploy compact systems that process air efficiently.

From Lab to Real World

The team isn't stopping at laboratory success. They're already envisioning scaling up COF-1000 for integration into coatings or structured systems suitable for future Direct Air Capture (DAC) plants.

And the material's already record-setting speeds could be pushed even further through device-level engineering — optimized airflow, smart reactor design, and system integration.

"This work shows how deliberate, data-informed materials design can lead to breakthroughs that matter beyond the lab. It's an example of how fundamental chemistry, when guided by clear application goals, can contribute meaningfully to climate solutions."

— Professor Omar M. Yaghi, 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, BIDMaP Chief Scientist

Hope in Molecules

As the urgency of climate mitigation continues to grow, advances like COF-1000 offer something precious: tangible hope backed by hard science.

This isn't wishful thinking. It's Nobel Prize-winning chemistry meeting one of humanity's greatest challenges — and winning.

The future where we pull carbon dioxide from thin air, faster than ever before, isn't a distant dream. Thanks to COF-1000, it's closer than we think.