Rare earth-based MOFs for photo/electrocatalysis

Abstract

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials that have been studied and applied in the fields of energy storage, catalysis and separation. Rare earth MOFs have the advantages of MOF materials in addition to the rare earth metal ion 4f electronic layer, large orbital coupling effect, and internal magnetic anisotropy. Rare earth MOFs have higher coordination numbers and richer coordination geometries than transition metal ions as functional metal centers of MOFs. Since the 4f electron layer endows rare earth MOFs with special optical and electrical properties, they have the potential for application in photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. This review reports the current research progress on rare earth MOFs, including synthesis methods and photocatalytic and electrocatalytic applications of rare earth MOFs. We divided the different ligands into 1,4-benzene dicarboxylic acid (BDC), 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTC), the zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF), and some uncommon rare earth MOFs materials. The photocatalytic and electrocatalytic applications include the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), and other applications. Finally, we summarize the progress and existing challenges of rare earth MOF materials in the fields of photocatalysis and electrocatalysis.