Nanostructured Materials Derived from Metal-Organic Frameworks for Energy and Environmental Applications

Nowadays, energy and environmental issues have become the top priority among a series of global issues. Fossil fuels as the dominant source are depleted fast and usually lead to some environmental problems. Heavy metal pollution has posed a severe threat to environment and public health. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), as a very promising category of porous materials, have attracted more and more interest in research communities due to their extremely high surface areas, diverse nanostructures and unique properties. To meet the ever-increasing energy demand and tackle the heavy metal pollution in water, MOFs can function as ideal templates to prepare various nanostructured materials for energy and environmental cleaning applications. The aim of this dissertation is to design and synthesize metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derived nanomaterials with desirable structures, morphologies and compositions for energy applications in Li-ion batteries (LIBs), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and electrocatalytic water splitting and environmental application in removal of heavy metal from aqueous systems. Their performances are mainly dependent on the characteristics of nanostructured materials. Briefly, the first two projects are focused on synthesis of ZIF-8 derived N-doped porous carbon and ZIF-67 derived ultrafine Co3O4 nanoparticles/carbon nanotube composites as high-performance anode materials for Li-ion batteries. The third project concentrates on synthesis of CoNi alloy embedded carbon nanocages derived from bimetallic organic frameworks for DSSCs. In addition, MOFs-derived CoNi and CoNx@Co/N-doped carbon tubes are synthesized and evaluated as low-cost electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The last project is focused on study of ZIF-8 as an efficient absorbent for removal of copper ions from wastewater.