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PRESS RELEASE – Light-responsive MOF films offer scalable solution for carbon capture and storage

| carbon, Environment

Trieste, 06 August 2025 — Exploiting a multi-technique approach, scientists have taken a significant step toward developing scalable, low-energy solutions for carbon capture and storage using metal-organic framework (MOF) films that can reversibly adsorb and release carbon dioxide under mild conditions—triggered only by changes of light and temperature. This could represent a key point to meet carbon neutrality goals.

The study, conducted by an interdisciplinary team that included scientists from the research infrastructure consortium CERIC-ERIC, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and the Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM) of the National Research Council of Italy (IOM-CNR), has been recently published in Nature Communications. In their research, supported by CERIC-ERIC, scientists addressed a critical challenge in the field: adapting highly porous MOF materials into practical, durable, and responsive assemblies for the use in carbon capture and storage technologies, while maintaining their structural integrity and sorption capacity.

Carbon neutrality goals aim to mitigate human impact on climate change achieving a balance between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and its adsorption or sequestration from the atmosphere. Within this context, MOFs, known for their exceptional porosity and tunable chemistry, are among the most promising candidates for future CO₂ mitigation strategies. However, their integration and use have been slowed down by difficulties in fabricating functional, stable forms—especially films or membranes—compatible with industrial systems. In this new study, researchers engineered flexible Zn-based MOF films grown as heteroepitaxial layered structures on substrates. These films incorporate functionalized organic linkers, including photo-switchable molecules like azobenzene, enabling reversible CO₂ capture triggered by light (both ultraviolet and visible).

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs and structure of the Zn-MOF films. Schematics for the
heteroepitaxial growth of the Zn2L2DABCO structures. Two planes align in-plane (orange highlighted areas), whilst another one
(green highlighted area) orients in the out-of-plane direction being parallel to the substrate. SEM micrographs of the
functionalized structures are shown for (a) Zn2BDC2DABCO, (b) Zn2Me-BDC2DABCO, (c) Zn2MeO-BDC2DABCO and (d)
Zn2(NH2)2-BDC2DABCO [adapted from Klokic et al., Flexible metal-organic framework films for reversible low-pressure carbon
capture and release, Nature Communications (2025)]
“Our findings show that it is possible to design MOF films that not only operate at near-ambient conditions but can be controlled remotely using light—an appealing strategy for smart and energy-efficient carbon capture, that enables at the same time a non-invasive control over the system,” says principal investigator author Dr Sumea Klokic, who designed the experiment and performed the related measurements in the framework of CERIC-ERIC research and is now scientist at TU Graz. By tailoring linker chemistry, the team has unlocked enhanced flexibility and responsiveness in the Zn-MOF films enabling reversible CO₂ uptake and dynamic structural adaptation at near-ambient conditions. “Using a combination of cutting-edge analytical techniques available in CERIC-ERIC Partner Facilities  — including grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) and infrared spectromicroscopy — we have been able to deeply characterise the reversible, low-energy system we developed, observing molecular-scale interactions and quantifying CO₂ uptake in real time —especially under external stimuli such as light and temperature.” adds Dr Giovanni Birarda, researcher at the beamline SISSI-Bio of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste. At the SISSI beamline, infrared spectromicroscopy allows researchers to investigate the spatial distribution and molecular dynamics of CO₂ within the MOF films with high chemical specificity and micrometric resolution.

Device schematics to track low-pressure CO2 uptake and release. (a) Outline of the grazing-incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) set-up for the investigation of the crystallographic features during CO2 uptake and release by the Zn-MOF films (b) IR-spectro-microscopy set-up for monitoring CO2 ad- and desorption under mild conditions by the MOF films. (c) Quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation module (QCM-D) using a self-built, proprietary measurement cell set-up for quantifying the CO2 uptake by the MOF films equipped with LED diodes for photo-switching experiments [adapted from Klokic et al., Flexible metal-organic framework films for reversible low-pressure carbon capture and release, Nature Communications (2025)]
Looking ahead, the researchers highlight the need for improved nanoscale imaging techniques – such as the ones that will be developed during the upcoming upgrade of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (Elettra 2.0), that will strive to provide complementary synchrotron methods to probe dynamic processes at even smaller length scales – to eventually map the CO₂ distribution within MOF films. Such insights could unlock further application of MOFs besides carbon storage, including gas separation devices, mixed matrix membranes, and environmental sensors.

The full paper, Flexible metal-organic framework films for reversible low-pressure carbon capture and release, is available in Nature Communications at the following link:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60027-6

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CERIC-ERIC is a European research infrastructure consortium established by the European Commission and the Government of eight Countries in 2014. It offers researchers and industry access to more than 60 experimental analytical and synthesis techniques in advanced research facilities in eight Central and Eastern European countries, and associated institutions. This supports multidisciplinary research down to the micro- and nano-level in the fields of advanced materials, biomaterials and nanotechnology. In CERIC’s facilities, materials can be analysed and their structure investigated by combining techniques based on the use of electrons, ions, neutrons and photons.

Access to CERIC’s research services is through international calls for proposals that allow free access to multiple techniques and reward the best projects, provided their results are open and published. In addition, there is commercial access for proprietary research open to companies, and support for technology transfer.
 

CONTACTS: CERIC Press Office: press@ceric-eric.eu
Marcello Turconi (Science Communication Officer): marcello.turconi@ceric-eric.eu