Hydrothermal synthesis of Ni(II) or Co(II)-based MOF for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) can produce clean hydrogen energy. Precious metal electrocatalysts had excellent electrocatalytic activity. However, its limited resources and high price limited its large-scale application. Therefore, the design of efficient, stable and low-cost non-precious metal electrocatalysts has become the key to improving HER efficiency. Herein, we synthesized two cobalt and nickel-based Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), [Ni(bib)2(SO4)]n (Ni-MOF) and [Co(bib)2(SO4)]n (Co-MOF) using bib as a ligand (bib = 1,4-bis(1-imidazolyl)benzene). Ni-MOF-T or Co-MOF-T was obtained by high-temperature calcination under the nitrogen atmosphere. Ni-MOF-800 or Co-MOF-800 exhibited high electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Besides, the electrocatalytic performance of Co-MOF@Zn-800 obtained by doping zinc ions in Co-MOF was improved.