Strategies for the enhanced water splitting activity over metal–organic frameworks-based electrocatalysts and photocatalysts

Abstract Water splitting is considered as a promising approach to generate hydrogen. At present, considerable efforts have been devoted to design and develop robust catalysts for efficient hydrogen generation through water splitting. To further decrease the energy consumption and lower the cost of the catalysts, it demands earth-abundant metal-based catalysts as alternatives to catalyze the water splitting. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) composed of metal nodes and organic linkers have been illustrated to be efficient for water splitting, because of their large specific surface area and tunable composition. Recent progress in the pure MOFs and their composites toward water splitting is summarized and strategies to boost the catalytic performance of MOFs are also introduced. Finally, the current challenges and future aims of pure MOFs-based catalysts toward water splitting are proposed.