Evaluating the efficiency of CuCo-based metal-organic framework-derived materials for electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohols

Owing to the demand and future impact of portable direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) technologies, the electrooxidation of ethanol and methanol has gained massive research interest. Provided that both alcohols are renewably resourced, the electrooxidation of alcohols could be considered among "clean technology" to reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts and enhance sustainability. However, the electrocatalyst for such reactions is primarily based on noble metals, limiting their application in terms of cost and sustainability perspectives. To overcome this limitation, this work designed metal-organic framework (MOF)-based earth-abundant bimetallic catalysts for the efficient electrooxidation of ethanol and methanol. Both as-synthesized and carbonized MOFs were used as an electrode, where the former delivered a superior electrocatalytic performance with longer-term stability (al-least 20 h). Various characterization tools helped to elucidate the structure-reactivity relationships, which will pave the way to generate clean energy technology with a low carbon footprint.