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World’s most porous sponges: intricate carbon-trapping powders hit the market

Metal-organic frameworks were the next big thing in chemistry when they were invented more than three decades ago. Now, these intriguing materials are becoming commercial tools for capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from the air.
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  1. Katharine Sanderson

    1. Katharine Sanderson is a freelance journalist based in Cornwall, UK.

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In May this year, a US$150-million factory making filters to capture carbon dioxide opened in Burnaby, Canada. Called Redwood, after the world’s tallest trees, the facility aims to make enough filters to capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year, says its operator, Svante Technologies, which refers to the production line as a gigafactory.

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Nature 643, 322-324 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02067-y

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