Electrocatalytic Metal-Organic Frameworks for Energy Applications

Abstract

With the global energy demand expected to increase drastically over the next several decades, the development of a sustainable energy system to meet this increase is paramount. Renewable energy sources can be coupled with electrochemical conversion processes to store energy in chemical bonds. To promote these difficult transformations, electrocatalysts that operate at high conversion rates and efficiency are required. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a promising class of materials; however, the insulating nature of MOFs has limited their application as electrocatalysts. The recent development of conductive MOFs has led to several electrocatalytic MOFs that display activity comparable to that of the best-performing heterogeneous catalysts. Although many electrocatalytic MOFs exhibit low activity and stability, the few successful examples highlight the possibility of MOF electrocatalysts as replacements for noble-metal-based catalysts in commercial energy-converting devices. We review herein the use of pristine MOFs as electrocatalysts to facilitate important energy-related reactions.

Keywords: electrocatalysis; electrofuels; energy conversion; metal-organic frameworks; molecular catalysis.