Report by sun Zhengzong, Li Qiaowei and Tang Yun of Fudan University: electrochemical integration of epitaxial growth assisted insulating MOF

Metal organic framework materials (MOF), with adjustable pore size and rich active centers, can interact with guest molecules in a specific way Therefore, MOF is considered to be a promising catalytic material The application of MOF in the field of electrochemical catalysis can greatly enrich the types and functions of electrochemical catalysts and electrochemical devices, and promote the cross field and leapfrog development However, most of the intrinsic states of MOF are insulating and nonconductive, which limits their expression in electrochemistry Although some conductive MOFs have been synthesized in the laboratory, their molecular structure design is difficult, and they can not match with a large number of insulating MOFs Therefore, how to improve the electrical properties of MOF, while retaining its own topological advantages to the maximum extent, will be of great significance to reveal its intrinsic electrocatalytic properties Recently, sun Zhengzong, Li Qiaowei and Tang Yun, Department of chemistry, Fudan University, jointly reported a new method for the epitaxial growth of MOF on the surface of graphene In this method, firstly, we use the intrinsic graphene with high conductivity as the epitaxial growth substrate, and the MOF with the same hexagonal symmetry as the epitaxial growth object, and adopt the strategy of epitaxial template method to prepare the MOF single crystal (GMOF) with highly matching the orientation of graphene crystal surface under the condition of solution concentration dilution and controllable growth GMOF crystal has typical two-dimensional characteristics: its plane / thickness ratio reaches ~ 1500, and the crystal orientation is highly consistent Compared with the insulating bulk MOF, GMOF shows stronger interlayer electron coupling with graphene, while retaining the advantages of MOF in topology, significantly improving its charge transfer efficiency and electrocatalytic activity in electrochemical reaction, clearing the obstacles for the efficient electrochemical integration of insulating MOF In addition, the method has been extended to other kinds of insulating MOF and two-dimensional substrate (molybdenum sulfide) Relevant research papers are entitled "experimental growth and integration of insulating metal − organic frameworks in electrochemistry" and published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (J am Chem SOC 2019, 141, 11322-11327) The first author of the thesis is master Hu Anqi This work has been greatly supported by the Department of chemistry, Fudan University, national key R & D projects and general programs of NSFC.