While the crisis may not be as unrealistic or far away as it seems, scientists are already coming up with potential solutions.
Less than two decades later, MOFs are being applied to purposes that even he could not have imagined, many of which would be particularly handy in a world falling apart – such as fabrics that can protect against chemical weapons, devices that can artificially replicate photosynthesis to transform carbon emissions into oxygen, and glowing crystals that can detect and trap contaminants in water.
Wang and her team developed a transparent box with a top surface painted black to absorb solar heat, which prompts a reaction that delivers enough drinking water for a person’s daily needs with 1kg of the powder, even in areas of 20% air humidity.
“Then these empty MOFs will be ready to absorb water from the air at night again.” Yaghi hopes these devices will enable people to access what he calls “personalised water” – off-grid and free of any impurities.
MOFs can be applied to just about any purpose.
This would enable further efficiencies for a food production process already being hampered by climate change.
The company has 15 different MOFs they are seeking to commercialise, including two that MOF Technologies hopes to sell to carbon-intensive industries as a way to capture and convert carbon emissions.
MOF Technologies have expanded their production facility in preparation for capacity of between five and 10 tonnes of MOF production per year from 2018.
Back at Berkeley, the father of these super-absorbent structures believes scientists have “just scratched the surface” of the “essentially limitless” applications of the technology.
“Imagine, any slight change of the metal ions, the organic components, the shape and topology, or the combination of them could give you a completely different MOF to be used for different purposes.