Susumu Kitagawa's team wins Air Liquide's Essential Molecules Challenge (28 November 2016)

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iCeMS Director Kitagawa

On 28 November, French gas company Air Liquide SA announced that it has selected a Kyoto University-Nagoya University team -- led by Professor Susumu Kitagawa of the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and Professor Ryotaro Matsuda of the Nagoya University Graduate School of Engineering -- as one of the winners of its inaugural Essential Molecules Challenge competition.

Air Liquide, the world's largest industrial gas supplier, launched the annual competition as part of its renewed focus on accelerating innovation in science and technology. Three projects won the 2016 Challenge, selected from a total of 130 proposals submitted by academic teams, corporate R&D departments, and start-up firms from 25 countries.

The Kitagawa-Matsuda project, "Pocketable Small Molecules -- Materials acting like sponges to safely capture, store, and release our Essential Small Molecules", centers on the development of nanoporous materials that can be used for high-density storage and safe transportation of gases. The work received high marks from the competition jury for its originality and potential to accelerate advances in energy and environmental technologies.

Gases typically need to be either under high pressure or cooled to extremely low temperatures in order to be stored and carried, not only requiring large amounts of energy but also involving considerable risk. New porous materials under development are anticipated to enable gases to be handled at lower pressures and near-room temperatures, for example leading to the ability to use medical oxygen in private homes with relative ease.

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