India, March 12 -- A gram of a remarkable material can have a surface area larger than several football fields. Within that invisible landscape of microscopic pores, molecules drifting in the air can be captured, stored, and released.

This is the promise of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a class of ultra-porous materials pioneered by chemist Omar Yaghi. In recognition of this breakthrough, he was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

What began as an elegant exercise in molecular design may now offer something extraordinary: the ability to produce drinking water directly from the air.

A few months ago, in Hindustan Times, I wrote about how these advanced materials could help India confront its air pollution crisis in an article ...