Vanadium-Based Trimetallic Metal-Organic-Framework Family as Extremely High-Performing and Ultrastable Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting

This is the first time that the pore-space-partition (PSP) strategy is being successfully applied in the electrochemical field for water splitting, realizing the highly efficient construction of a series of ultrastable pristine MOF electrocatalysts. On integrating the vanadium-based trimetallic building cluster (M2V), the target M2V-MOFs exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity for HER, OER, and water splitting. In particular, ultralow overpotentials of 314 and 198 mV for Fe2V-MOF as OER and HER electrocatalysts, respectively, can drive a current density of 10 mA cm–2. The fabricated Fe2V-MOF||Pt/C two-electrode configuration for the overall water splitting yields a current density of 10 mA cm–2 at only 1.6 V vs RHE, which is superior to that of the commercial IrO2||Pt/C couple. Notably, high structural and chemical stabilities still can be observed in alkaline condition. This work opens up an exciting pathway to design efficient and stable electrocatalysts based on pristine MOF by integrating the PSP strategy and multimetallic centers.