Recent Approaches to Design Electrocatalysts Based on Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Derivatives

Rational design and synthesis of efficient electrocatalysts are important constituents in addressing the currently growing provision issues. Typical reactions, which are important to catalyze in this respect, include CO2 reduction, the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions as well as the oxygen reduction reaction. The most efficient catalysts known up-to-date for these processes usually contain expensive and scarce elements, substantially impeding implementation of such electrocatalysts at a larger scale. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives containing affordable components and building blocks, as an emerging class of porous functional materials, have been recently attracting a great attention thanks to their tunable structure and composition together with high surface area, just to name a few. Up to now, several MOFs and MOF-derivatives have been reported as electrode materials for the energy-related electrocatalytic application. In this review article, we summarize and analyze current approaches to design such materials. The design strategies to improve the Faradaic efficiency and selectivity of these catalysts are discussed. Last but not least, we discuss some novel strategies to enhance the conductivity, chemical stability and efficiency of MOF-derived electrocatalysts.