Conductive metal-organic frameworks for electrochemical energy conversion and storage

Abstract

Abstract Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials intensively studied for electrochemical applications. However, low charge conductivity is the primary obstacle, which limits the utilization of pristine MOFs in practice. Over the last decade, researchers have shown great interests in breaking through this “bottleneck”, offering them enhanced performance in charge transportation while maintaining their structural and chemical superiorities. Therefore, the design and synthesis of electron- and proton-conductive MOFs become a straightforward strategy to achieve this goal. Herein, this review summaries the rich progress in the development of conductive MOFs for their applications in a wide range of electrochemical energy conversion and storage techniques, including fuel cells, water electrolysis, supercapacitors and batteries. Specifically, this review focuses on the origin of conductivities and its influence on the electrochemical performance of conductive MOFs, which are attributed to the strategic choice of metal–ligand combination and tuning of both physical and chemical structures.