π-Conjugated Molecule Boosts Metal-Organic Frameworks as Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysts

To improve the efficiency of water electrolysis, developing efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysis is extremely important due to its four-electron transfer dynamics. In this work, a pi-conjugated molecule (2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene, HHTP), which can accelerate the electron transfer, is coated directly on pristine ZIF-67, resulting in a composite named HHTP@ZIF-67, via a simple one-step solvothermal method. The obtained HHTP@ZIF-67 possesses a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 2013.9 m(2) g(-1) and displays microporous behavior, which can provide enough active sites for OER. The double-layer capacitance of HHTP@ZIF-67 is also enhanced, corresponding to an enlarged electrochemical active surface area. HHTP@ZIF-67 presents a quite low overpotential of 238 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in 1.0 m KOH. This material synthesized via the simple coating strategy is promising in the application of energy conversion devices.