Metal-Organic Frameworks and Water: 'From Old Enemies to Friends'?

Since their discovery a few decades ago, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have suffered from poor hydrolytic stability. Since then, significant effort has been devoted to design robust MOFs, including their utilization for water-related applications to overcome relevant societal challenges. This short review provides guidelines on the key parameters that drive the assembly of hydrothermally stable MOFs together with the most relevant physicochemical features needed in their water-related applications. It also highlights some of the recent advances in MOF-water applications (based on water sorption or mediation and separation in the presence of water) as well as the most critical challenges to overcome.