Metal–organic frameworks as promising electrocatalysts for the nitrogen reduction reaction: mapping the research landscape and identifying future trends

Abstract

Since the pioneering discovery of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) a quarter century ago, they have evolved as a new category of porous crystalline extended network structures with atomic/molecular level designability. The distinctive porosity and structural customizability of MOFs have been crucial to their wide spectrum of applications. Among these applications, MOFs have gained prominence as electrocatalysts in the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), which has inimitable potential to solve environmental crises. The reticular structures of MOFs with uniformly distributed active sites and their easy accessibility endow them with enhanced catalytic activity. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of MOF catalyst design protocols from molecular building blocks to extended networks, and discuss how precisely designed MOF electrocatalyst structures can explicitly control targeted NRR pathways, besides giving an insight into the future prospects and challenges.