Metal-Organic Framework Hybrid Materials for Promoting the Oxygen Evolution Process in Acidic Environments: A Review

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is widely regarded as the kinetic bottleneck in water electrolysis, especially in proton exchange membrane (PEM) systems that operate under strongly acidic conditions. While noble-metal oxides such as IrO۲ and RuO۲ currently dominate as benchmarks, their limited availability and high cost motivate the search for alternative electrocatalysts that can operate efficiently at low pH. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), owing to their modular architectures, high surface areas, and tunable metal-ligand environments, have attracted considerable attention as precursors and scaffolds for advanced OER catalysts. However, pristine MOFs typically exhibit poor electrical conductivity and suffer from structural degradation in acidic electrolytes. To address these obstacles, hybrid materials that integrate MOFs with conductive phases, acid-resistant oxides, carbon supports, and heteroatom dopants have been intensively explored. This article summarizes recent progress on MOF-derived and MOF-based hybrid composites for OER under low pH conditions, with an emphasis on design strategies, structure-property relationships, stability issues, and mechanistic insights. Finally, we highlight key challenges and future research directions toward achieving practical, durable OER catalysts for acidic water electrolysis.

کلیدواژه ها:

MOF ، hybrid composites ، proton exchange membrane