Impact of exposed crystal facets on oxygen reduction reaction activity in zeolitic imidazole frameworks

Abstract

ZIF-67 is a representative type of metal–organic framework (MOF) developed for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) owing to its robust structure in alkaline electrolytes and the presence of the redox-active Co²⁺ species in the structure. In this work, the improvement of the ORR electrolytic performance of ZIF-67 in its pure phase by optimization of its crystal morphology and crystal facets has been presented. ZIF-67 nanocubes exhibit higher ORR activity than their bulk crystals. The enriched (100) facet in the nanocube crystals provides a higher number of exposed Co²⁺ sites resulting in improved ORR performances. Moreover, DFT study suggests a distinguished mechanism in the (100) facet highlighting the importance of crystal facets in electrochemical performances.