Water, air and climate
Materials full of pores a few nanometers wide can let water through and hold salt back, or trap carbon dioxide from a chimney. They are being built into filters, membranes and capture plants, and some already treat drinking water.
3 technologies tracked here, by how far each has got.
From lab to your life
Where each one stands
Every technology sits on the step its dated, sourced milestones support, never where its makers hope it will be. Open one to see why it's there.
- 5Everyday lifeIt is probably already in your life.
- Nothing we track here is at this step yet.
- 4Approved or on saleYou can get it now, though it may not be common yet.
- 3Real-world testingCould reach you in a few years if the tests go well.
- Metal-organic frameworks for carbon captureCarbon capture materialMetal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystals built like scaffolding: metal atoms joined by carbon-based molecules, leaving pores a few nanometers wide inside.Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal-organic frameworks, citing uses that…
- Water from desert air with MOFsWater harvesterA metal-organic framework soaks up water vapor from the air at night.The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for metal-organic frameworks named harvesting water from desert air among their uses.
- 2Working prototypeStill years away; many prototypes stall here.
- Nothing we track here is at this step yet.
- 1Lab discoveryUsually 10 years or more from products, and most never get there.
- Nothing we track here is at this step yet.
On the record
The latest steps
The most recent dated events for everything in this topic, newest first, each with its source.
- Working prototype
Tandem solar
A LONGi tandem cell reached 35.5% efficiency, a world record, certified by the European Solar Test Installation.
PV Tech, 16 July 2026 - On the record
MOF carbon capture
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal-organic frameworks, citing uses that include capturing carbon dioxide.
Nobel Prize press release, 8 Oct 2025 - On the record
MOF water harvesting
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for metal-organic frameworks named harvesting water from desert air among their uses.
Nobel Prize press release, 8 Oct 2025 - On saleCompany-reported
Tandem solar
Oxford PV shipped its first commercial tandem panels, with 24.5% module efficiency, to a customer in the US.
Oxford PV, 5 Sept 2024 - ProductionCompany-reported
MOF carbon capture
BASF said it was the first company to make a MOF at a scale of several hundred tons a year, for Svante's carbon capture filters.
The Chemical Engineer, 3 Nov 2023 - Field trial
MOF carbon capture
Svante installed a demonstration plant capturing 1 tonne of CO2 a day at Lafarge's cement plant in Richmond, British Columbia, using its MOF material.
World Cement, May 2023 - Field trial
MOF water harvesting
UC Berkeley researchers tested a prototype harvester in a backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona, where humidity fell as low as 8% in the day, and collected drinkable water each day-night cycle.
University of California, 14 June 2018
Who makes it
The companies behind it
Who is building what we track in this topic. Where a company's own filings say how much of its business is nano, we show it.
- Private companySvante
A carbon capture company; BASF scaled up production of the metal-organic framework its capture filters use.
We track:MOF carbon capture