How can Metal-Organic Frameworks help solve the nitrogen crisis?
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are an emerging class of materials attracting worldwide attention for their potential to tackle major sustainability challenges. In this edition of SustainaLab Talks, we explore how MOFs could contribute to understanding and addressing the nitrogen crisis.
MOFs can be tailored to respond to very low concentrations of molecules, enabling highly sensitive air quality monitoring, including applications relevant for agriculture and nitrogen emissions.
These sensing capabilities open up new avenues for tracking nitrogen compounds in real time, on farms and in surrounding environments. Could MOF-based sensing instruments support smarter adaptive policy, more precise farming and more effective mitigation strategies in the nitrogen crisis?
During this event, we will place these developments into a broader context and bring together perspectives from science, policy and public health, the sensor industry and farming practice.
Together, we will discuss questions such as:
- What could MOF-based sensors measure that current technologies cannot (or not as well)?
- How could better nitrogen sensing change farming practices and policy debates?
- What are realistic timelines and barriers for implementing MOF technologies in the field?
- Pieter Hoenderken, Director at Impact Smart Solutions, will talk from the implementation and impact perspective: how smart sensing and data solutions can be made usable for farmers, regulators and companies; what he sees as key success factors for pilots and scaling; and how innovative technologies can be embedded in practical, economically viable strategies to reduce nitrogen impacts.
- Stefania Grecea, Associate Professor and Group Leader of Functional Materials for Sustainable Applications at the University of Amsterdam, and co-founder of Nano-Hybrids, will explore how metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could contribute to addressing the nitrogen crisis. She will focus on the potential of MOF-based sensors to detect and distinguish nitrogen-containing compounds with greater sensitivity and selectivity than existing technologies.
- Ellart de Wit, CTO at On2Quest, will share his perspective on bridging the gap between MOF discovery and industrial deployment. Drawing on his experience, he will discuss what it takes to translate a material from laboratory research into a commercially viable technology, as well as the challenges involved in scaling up and achieving market adoption.
- Final speaker to be announced soon!
Moderation by Marco Tibaldi, Director at Amsterdam Chemistry Network (ACN).
Who should attend?
Researchers, students, policymakers, farmers, technology developers and anyone interested in the intersection of advanced materials, sustainable agriculture and environmental policy.
Thursday, October 8th, 2026
15:30 – 18:00 (including networking drinks)
SustainaLab, Matrix ONE, Amsterdam Science Park 301, 1098 XH Amsterdam
Language: English
Cost: Free
This event is organised by SustainaLab in collaboration with Amsterdam Chemistry Network.