Adsorption lies at the heart of many emerging technologies aimed at addressing today’s energy and environmental challenges. From thermochemical energy storage and water harvesting to desalination, cooling, environmental remediation, and sensing, the development of efficient adsorption-based processes relies on a fundamental understanding of how molecules interact with high surface area materials.
This session brings together complementary perspectives on adsorption, spanning fundamental phenomena, advanced characterization, material design, and process-scale applications. The first contribution will explore the molecular and structural factors governing adsorption in porous solids, highlighting the complementary information provided by different probe molecules and by static and dynamic characterization methods, with particular emphasis on conditions relevant to real operating environments.
The session will then move from fundamental characterization to the development of next-generation sorbents and adsorption technologies. Data-driven approaches will be presented for the optimization of materials for thermochemical energy storage, while experimental studies will demonstrate the potential of sustainable sorbents for thermally driven desalination, cooling, and water production. Particular attention will be given to environmentally friendly synthesis strategies for metal-organic frameworks, showing how greener production routes can preserve—and in some cases enhance—their sorption performance.
Finally, multifunctional calcium ferrites will illustrate how phase engineering and surface properties can open new opportunities at the interface between adsorption, water remediation, and thermochemical CO₂ conversion. Collectively, the contributions highlight the need to bridge molecular-scale interactions, material properties, and process performance to develop sustainable and high-performance adsorption technologies for future energy and sensing applications.