Trio wins Chemistry Nobel for work on ‘Hermione’s handbag’ materials

SCIENTISTS SUSUMU KITA-GAWA, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel chemistry prize for developing a new form of molecular architecture, yielding materials that can help tackle challenges suchas climate change and lack of fresh water.

- JOHAN AHLANDER, NIKLAS POLLARD & MARIE MANNES

The three laureates worked to create molecular constructions, knownas metal-organic frameworks or MOFs, withlarge spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow and that can be utilised to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide or store toxic gases.