Refrigerant reclamation among applications for Nobel Prize-winning tech

Australia-based chemist Professor Richard Robson has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Professor Susumu Kitagawa (Japan) and Professor Omar M. Yaghi (United States) for their pioneering development of metal–organic frameworks, which could help address tough environmental challenges such as refrigerant reclamation.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are described as porous materials made from metal ions linked by organic molecules, forming crystals filled with nano-sized cavities.

These frameworks have the extraordinary ability to “absorb and separate only specific gas molecules” by changing the size, shape, and chemical properties of their pores.