In October, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Kyoto University’s Distinguished Professor Susumu Kitagawa, as well as Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi, a trio of pioneers in metal-organic framework research.
Brozek first met Kitagawa in 2010 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during a seminar hosted by Brozek’s doctoral adviser. They kept in touch, and Brozek has been collaborating with Kitagawa’s colleagues in Kyoto.
His Fulbright was intended to help deepen that connection, but it also unexpectedly gave him a front-row seat to the announcement of one of this year’s Nobel Prizes, which honors the field Brozek has been working in since graduate school.
“It was exciting to be in Kyoto for the big news,” Brozek said. “Since 1999, these three scientists have been developing a new form of molecular architecture. We’ve just begun to put MOFs to work, and they hold great promise for industry, the environment and medicine.”
MOFs are materials made from metal ions linked together with organic molecules in repeating crystal structures. Like microscopic Tinker Toys, the structures are endlessly customizable. So far, scientists have created more than 100,000 different kinds.
And they have almost as many potential applications as they do structures.
Because they act as porous sponges that can be specifically “tuned” to draw in specific molecules, MOFs could be used to extract water from desert air, separate lead from water or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Someday, they might be used in industrial plants to separate one chemical from another, saving tremendous energy and money. Currently, chemical separation using heat accounts for approximately half the world’s industrial energy consumption.
MOFs also could revolutionize lithium-ion batteries that power phones and cars, Brozek said.
“I love studying MOFs,” Brozek said. “They’re extremely complex but also controllable. We continue tweaking them because we can.”