| Jul 23, 2025 |
Layered MOFs boost efficiency of selenium-based water splitting catalystsResearchers use layered MOFs and selenium chemistry to create efficient, low-energy electrocatalysts for hydrogen and oxygen production in water splitting.(Nanowerk News) Transition metal selenides are drawing attention as promising materials for water splitting—a key process for producing clean hydrogen fuel. Meanwhile, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with their customizable porous structures, have shown strong potential as precursors for electrocatalysts. But traditional methods for converting MOFs into selenides often require high temperatures and offer limited control over the final structure, making them inefficient and inconsistent. |
| A research team from Jianghan University and Fuzhou University has taken a new approach. Led by Wang-ting Lu, Fan Yu, and Yun Zheng, the group used two-dimensional (2D) layered MOFs made from cobalt and iron as a foundation for building efficient selenium-based electrocatalysts. Their strategy avoids energy-intensive pyrolysis and focuses instead on chemical methods to incorporate selenium into the material (Frontiers in Energy, "Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting"). |
| The team experimented with two techniques. One involved treating the MOF with a selenium dioxide (SeO₂) solution, allowing selenium to gradually penetrate the structure. The other replaced a sulfur-based building block (SCN⁻) with its selenium counterpart (SeCN⁻) during the MOF’s construction. Both methods proved successful in creating uniform, selenium-rich catalysts. |
| When tested for their ability to drive hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions—the two halves of water splitting—the selenium-enhanced materials showed markedly better performance. The researchers attribute this to the catalysts’ 2D layered structure and porous texture, which help expose more active sites. In addition, the interaction between different chemical components in the structure appears to improve electron transfer during the reactions. |
| This study shows that with careful structural design, MOF-derived electrocatalysts can be made more efficient and easier to produce. The selenium integration methods developed here offer a lower-energy alternative to traditional fabrication techniques and could help scale up production of water-splitting systems for sustainable hydrogen generation. |
| Source: Frontiers in Energy (Note: Content may be edited for style and length) |
