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Abstract Global reliance on fossil fuel combustion for energy production has contributed to the rising concentration of atmospheric CO2, creating significant global climate challenges. In this regard, direct air capture (DAC) of CO2from the atmosphere has emerged as one of the most promising strategies to counteract the harmful effects on the environment, and the further development and commercialization of this technology will play a pivotal role in achieving the goal of net‐zero emissions by 2050. Among various DAC adsorbents, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) show great potential due to their high porosity and ability to reversibly adsorb CO2at low concentrations. However, the adsorption efficiency and cost‐effectiveness of these materials must be improved to be widely deployed as DAC sorbents. To that end, this perspective provides a critical discussion on several types of benchmark MOFs that have demonstrated high CO2capture capacities, including an assessment of their stability, CO2capture mechanism, capture‐release cycling behavior, and scale‐up synthesis. It then concludes by highlighting limitations that must be addressed for these MOFs to go from the research laboratory to implementation in DAC devices on a global scale so they can effectively mitigate climate change.
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This content will become publicly available on February 19, 2026
Architecting Metal–Organic Frameworks at Molecular Level toward Direct Air Capture
Escalating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have intensified the greenhouse effect, posing a significant long-term threat to environmental sustainability. Direct air capture (DAC) has emerged as a promising approach to achieving a net-zero carbon future, which offers several practical advantages, such as independence from specific CO2 emission sources, economic feasibility, flexible deployment, and minimal risk of CO2 leakage. The design and optimization of DAC sorbents are crucial for accelerating industrial adoption. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with high structural order and tunable pore sizes, present an ideal solution for achieving strong guest-host interactions under trace CO2 conditions. This perspective highlights recent advancements in using MOFs for DAC, examines the molecular-level effects of water vapor on trace CO2 capture, reviews data-driven computational screening methods to develop a molecularly programmable MOF platform for identifying optimal DAC sorbents, and discusses scale-up and cost of MOFs for DAC.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2119433
- PAR ID:
- 10648215
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Chemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Volume:
- 147
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 0002-7863
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5495 to 5514
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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