Molecular adsorption has many large-scale industrial applications in our society, including fluid storage, molecular separation and purification, and is therefore a very active area of research in both chemistry and materials science. Improvement of the performance of adsorption-based processes could reduce the environmental impact of the separation and purification applications by replacing energy-intensive processes such as cryogenic distillation. In the energy industry, the use of nanoporous solids is a promising low-energy alternative to pressurized gas tanks for the storage of fuel such as H 2 or CH 4 . Adsorption is also foreseen to be a crucial component in the next generation of carbon capture and storage systems. To further unfold the potential of this technology, the design of materials for targeted applications needs to be refined.