MOF-based catalysts for VOC oxidation: thermocatalysis, photocatalysis, and photothermal catalysis

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major precursors of ozone and fine particulate matter, posing significant risks to both environmental quality and human health. Catalytic oxidation is widely regarded as one of the most effective approaches for VOC abatement; however, the rational design of efficient catalysts remains a central challenge. In this review, we present a perspective on MOF-based catalysts by addressing three fundamental questions in catalyst design: where the active sites are located, how they function, and how their stability can be maintained. We show that metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), owing to their tunable coordination environments and porous architectures, provide unique opportunities to precisely define and regulate active sites. Early studies focus on dispersing active species on MOFs to control their location, while subsequent advances emphasize interfacial and electronic regulation to improve catalytic function. More recently, MOF-derived catalysts and photothermal systems have been developed to enhance structural stability and enable efficient energy utilization. By integrating representative studies from the literature with our own contributions, we review how MOF-based systems evolve from simple active-site carriers to structurally and functionally integrated catalysts. This perspective provides a unified framework for understanding structure-function-stability relationships in VOC oxidation and offers guidance for the design of next-generation catalytic systems.