STOCKHOLM – Japanese scientist Susumu Kitagawa and two others won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for developing porous materials that can store gases such as natural gas, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
The three, including the 74-year-old professor at Kyoto University, were recognized for their work on so-called metal-organic frameworks, porous materials that can absorb and release gases. They also predicted that such frameworks could be made flexible, according to the academy.
Kitagawa’s co-winners are Richard Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and Omar Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States.
Metal-organic frameworks “can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyse chemical reactions,” the academy said in a statement.
Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, also said, “Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions.”
A wide range of networks with nanospaces formed by organic molecules and metal ions can be applied in fields such as the global environment, resources, outer space, life and energy, according to Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, where Kitagawa works.
After earning his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 1979, Kitagawa taught at Kindai University in Osaka Prefecture and Tokyo Metropolitan University before returning to his alma mater as a professor.
Kitagawa has received several awards at home and abroad, including the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government.
The three laureates will share 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.17 million) equally, the academy said.
AloJapan.com