Nobel-winning chemist's breakthrough could end global water crisis
Omar Yaghi, a 2025 Nobel Prize-winning chemist at UC Berkeley, has created a way to collect water straight from the atmosphere—even in super dry places.
Using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), his team's invention can grab water vapor where regular methods fail.
Yaghi is bringing this to life through his company Atoco.
The system can be scaled up for drought-prone regions too
This MOF tech can make up to 1,000-liter of pure water a day using just sunlight or waste heat—no electricity needed.
It's being targeted at data centers and green hydrogen plants that need lots of clean water, especially with AI driving up demand, and the company plans prototypes and demonstrations.
The company has not publicly specified a timeline for taking orders, and the system could be scaled up for drought-prone regions too.