Soft-oxometalates (SOMs): crafting the pillars of a sustainable future

Sustainability stands as a pivotal challenge in advancing new technologies and fostering innovation. The unique attributes of soft-oxometalate pave the way for constructing a sustainable framework, characterized by its capability to harness energy for generating motion, partitioning, reactivity, and facilitating the assembly and disassembly processes. This review emphasizes the soft matter aspects of oxometalates, particularly their potential in applications like photocatalysis, micro bubbling patterning, dynamic materials, and converting CO2 into simpler organic compounds (C1 and C2 products). By harmonizing these elements as foundational pillars, we aim to achieve sustainable CO2 conversion into reduced forms. Our team is dedicated to transforming these concepts into commercially viable products. This concise review traces our path from inception to the present, and projects a vision for the future, outlining how we anticipate sustainable chemistry will evolve both in our lab and globally. Soft-oxometalates as a tool of chemical science for designing sustainable solutions.