In situ conversion builds MIL-101@NiFe-LDH heterojunction structures to enhance the oxygen evolution reaction

Design of cerium dioxide anchored in cobalt-iron layered double hydroxide hollow polyhedra via an ion exchange strategy for the oxygen evolution reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is hindered by slow kinetics due to its four-electron process, limiting overall efficiency. The rational design of metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanomaterials is crucial for enhancing the oxygen production rate. Using a straightforward strategy, we synthesized cobalt-iron layered double hydroxide (CoFe-LDH) hollow polyhedra loaded with CeO2, with zeolite imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) serving as the precursor. The CoFe-LDH/CeO2 composite demonstrates outstanding OER performance, including a lower overpotential (315 mV) at 10 mA cm-2, a smaller Tafel slope (49.53 mV dec-1), and remarkable stability. The high OER activity of CoFe-LDH/CeO2 is attributed to the electron transition of CeO2 within the CoFe-LDH carrier layer, which enhances electron interactions with the CoFe-LDH hollow polyhedra and promotes the catalytic reaction. Leveraging the excellent catalytic properties of CoFe-LDH/CeO2, this study offers a promising approach for developing green, cost-effective, and efficient electrocatalysts.

Boosting Urea-Assisted Natural Seawater Electrolysis in 3D Leaf-Like Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheet Arrays Using Metal Node Engineering

Metal node engineering, which can optimize the electronic structure and modulate the composition of poor electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks, is of great interest for electrochemical natural seawater splitting. However, the mechanism underlying the influence of mixed-metal nodes on electrocatalytic activities is still ambiguous. Herein, a strategic design is comprehensively demonstrated in which mixed Ni and Co metal redox-active centers are uniformly distributed within NH2-Fe-MIL-101 to obtain a synergistic effect for the overall enhancement of electrocatalytic activities. Three-dimensional mixed metallic MOF nanosheet arrays, consisting of three different metal nodes, were in situ grown on Ni foam as a highly active and stable bifunctional catalyst for urea-assisted natural seawater splitting. A well-defined NH2-NiCoFe-MIL-101 reaches 1.5 A cm-2 at 360 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and 0.6 A cm-2 at 295 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in freshwater, substantially higher than its bimetallic and monometallic counterparts. Moreover, the bifunctional NH2-NiCoFe-MIL-101 electrode exhibits eminent catalytic activity and stability in natural seawater-based electrolytes. Impressively, the two-electrode urea-assisted alkaline natural seawater electrolysis cell based on NH2-NiCoFe-MIL-101 needs only 1.56 mV to yield 100 mA cm-2, much lower than 1.78 V for alkaline natural seawater electrolysis cells and exhibits superior long-term stability at a current density of 80 mA cm-2 for 80 h.

Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution by In Situ Growth of Tetrametallic Metal-Organic Framework Electrocatalyst FeCoNiMn-MOF on Nickel Foam

Developing highly efficient, cost-effective, non-noble-metal-based electrocatalysts with superior performance and stability for oxygen evolution reactions is of immense challenge as well as great importance for the upcoming sustainable and green energy conversion technologies. The multivariate metal-organic frameworks with hierarchical porous structures and unsaturated coordination modes are considered to be promising emerging energy materials. In this work, a series of multimetallic MOFs were directly grown on nickel foam (NF) through the solvothermal method. Notably, the optimized tetrametallic FeCoNiMn-MOF/NF shows a low overpotential of 239 mV to achieve a current density of 50 mA cm-2 with a Tafel slope of 62.05 mV dec-1 for OER in 1 M KOH. It also exhibits excellent stability and durability over 100 h in chronoamperometric studies. The enhanced performance is closely tied to the high activity of iron and nickel ions and the decomposed and reconstructed Ni/Fe-OOH intermediates of the FeCoNiMn-MOF/NF during the OER process, which are revealed by XPS analysis and in situ Raman spectroscopy. This present work demonstrates the feasibility and advantage of utilizing highly efficient and durable multimetallic MOFs for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution.

Ruthenium-nickel oxide derived from Ru-coupled Ni metal-organic framework for effective oxygen evolution reaction

Developing Ru-based catalysts with both high activity and stability for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is very significant in the water electrolysis technique. Here, a bimetallic metal oxide catalyst (RuO2-NiO) derived from Ru-coupled Ni metal-organic framework (Ni-MOF) by using terephthalic acid as the ligand was successfully synthesized through a facile ultrasonic treatment and subsequent thermal annealing approach; and the effective role of the coupled effect between RuO2 and NiO in stabilizing Ru was found significant in OER catalysis. A relatively small d-band center due to the electronic structure regulation and synergistic effect of the heterostructure was found to cause weakened adsorption of surface oxygen species. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that the electronic modulation between RuO2 and NiO can significantly accelerate the dissociation of water and modulate the chemical adsorption of oxygen intermediates on the catalyst, thereby enhancing the OER activity of the catalyst. The optimized catalyst of RuO2-NiO afforded a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at low overpotentials of 210 mV toward OER, and good catalytic stability, kinetics and efficiency were also discussed. This remarkable catalytic performance can be attributed to the unique sheet-like structure and porous morphology of the catalyst with increased exposure of active sites and the coupling effect between RuO2 and NiO for moderate binding strength to the intermediates. This study showed an effective approach for bimetallic oxide catalyst fabrication and their applications in energy conversion reactions.

Metal-organic frameworks-derived layered double hydroxides: From controllable synthesis to various electrochemical energy storage/conversion applications

Over the past years, metal-organic frameworks (MOF) have been directly used as electrodes or as a precursor for MOF-derived materials in energy storage and conversion systems. In the wide range of existing MOF derivatives, MOF-derived layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are determined to be promising materials due to their unique structure and features. However, MOF-derived LDHs (MDL) materials can suffer from insufficient intrinsic conductivity and agglomeration during formation. Various techniques and approaches were designed and applied to tackle these problems, such as using ternary LDHs, ion-doping, sulphurization, phosphorylation, selenization, direct growth, and conductive substrates. All the mentioned enhancement techniques aim to create the ideal electrode materials with maximum performance. In this review, we gathered and discussed the most recent progressive advances, different synthesis methodologies, unsolved challenges, applications, and electrochemical and electrocatalytic performance of MDL materials. We hope this work will be a reliable source for future progress and synthesis of these materials.

Amorphous Metal-Organic Framework-Derived Electrocatalyst to Boost Water Oxidation

Amorphous metal-organic framework (MOF) materials have drawn extensive interest in the design of high-performance electrocatalysts for use in the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction. However, there are limitations to the utilization of amorphous MOFs due to their low electrical conductivity and unsatisfactory stability. Herein, a novel amorphous-crystalline (AC) heterostructure is successfully constructed by synthesizing a crystalline metal sulfide (MS)-embedded amorphous Ni_0.67Fe_0.33-MOF, namely an MS/Ni_0.67Fe_0.33-MOF. It exhibits excellent catalytic performance (a low overpotential of 248 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 with a small Tafel slope of 50 mV decade^-1), durability, and stability (only 8% degradation of the current density at a constant voltage after 24 h). This work thus sheds light on the engineering of highly efficient catalysts with AC heterointerfaces for optimizing water-splitting systems.

Synthesis of bifunctional NiFe layered double hydroxides (LDH)/Mo-doped g-C3N4 electrocatalyst for efficient methanol oxidation and seawater splitting

To boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of pristine NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDH), the NiFe-LDH/Mo-doped graphitic carbon nitride (NiFe-LDH/MoCN) heterojunction was synthesized herein through hydrothermal method. The establishment of built-in electric field in NiFe-LDH/MoCN heterojunction enhanced the electrochemical oxidation activities towards both seawater splitting and methanol oxidation, via the improving electrocatalyst surface wettability and conductivity. Almost 10-fold enhancement of turnover frequency (TOF) and electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) than pure NiFe-LDH implied more active sites to participate in catalytic reactions via Mo doping and the formation of heterostructure. Moreover, the local charge redistribution demonstrated in the NiFe-LDH/MoCN interface region may favor the adsorption of methanol and OH^- in the seawater. The present work may expound the strong coupling interaction and the establishment of built-in electric field in the interface between NiFe-LDH and semiconductor to enhance both methanol oxidation and seawater oxidation for NiFe-LDH.

Designing a Built-In Electric Field for Efficient Energy Electrocatalysis

To utilize intermittent renewable energy as well as achieve the goals of peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, various electrocatalytic devices have been developed. However, the electrocatalytic reactions, e.g., hydrogen evolution reaction/oxygen evolution reaction in overall water splitting, polysulfide conversion in lithium-sulfur batteries, formation/decomposition of lithium peroxide in lithium-oxygen batteries, and nitrate reduction reaction to degrade sewage, suffer from sluggish kinetics caused by multielectron transfer processes. Owing to the merits of accelerated charge transport, optimized adsorption/desorption of intermediates, raised conductivity, regulation of the reaction microenvironment, as well as ease to combine with geometric characteristics, the built-in electric field (BIEF) is expected to overcome the above problems. Here, we give a Review about the very recent progress of BIEF for efficient energy electrocatalysis. First, the construction strategies and the characterization methods (qualitative and quantitative analysis) of BIEF are summarized. Then, the up-to-date overviews of BIEF engineering in electrocatalysis, with attention on the electron structure optimization and reaction microenvironment modulation, are analyzed and discussed in detail. In the end, the challenges and perspectives of BIEF engineering are proposed. This Review gives a deep understanding on the design of electrocatalysts with BIEF for next-generation energy storage and electrocatalytic devices.