Synthetic approaches and electrocatalytic reactions of pristine metal-organic frameworks for energy conversion

Electrocatalysis plays a significant role in many value-added chemical transformations in advanced clean energy production technologies such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Among various catalysts, traditional materials made of noble metals are widely used as electrocatalysts; however, they often suffer from disadvantages such as low abundance, low surface area, and high cost. The intrinsic advantages of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been explored in various application fields. However, their insulating property and poor electrolyte stability limited their utility in desirable technologies such as fuel cells, batteries, and supercapacitors. New designs and synthetic strategies have ushered in a new era of fabricating electrocatalytically active MOFs for energy and environmental concerns. This review details the synthetic approaches to fabricate electrocatalytically active pristine MOFs and their recent progress in electrocatalytic applications such as oxygen reduction, oxygen/hydrogen evolution, and carbon dioxide reduction. The present review assists in advancing MOF research in emergent technologies such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries.