Recent advances of metal–organic frameworks in corrosion protection: From synthesis to applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a subclass of hybrid-type crystalline materials that consist of metal ions (or clusters) and organic ligands, has received remarkable attention in both inorganic and organic chemistry fields in recent decades. Benefiting from their significant features such as large specific surface area, adjustable structure and function, regular pore arrangement and abundant active sites, MOFs exhibit great application prospects as anticorrosion materials. Herein, this review focuses on the latest research progress of MOF-based corrosion protection materials and reviews their anticorrosion performance, including the commonly concerned fabrication approaches of MOFs for corrosion protection with their respective advantages and shortcomings, the different anticorrosion applications, and the presented challenges that need to be conquered in practical applications. Meanwhile, we detailedly introduce the corrosion protection mechanisms of MOFs when serve as inhibitors, nano-fillers, nano-containers, and surficial protecting coatings. At the end of this review, the future outlooks of MOFs for corrosion protection is provided, we hope this review will illuminate the achievement of high performed anticorrosion MOFs and offer new ideas for the development of MOF-based materials for future corrosion protection application.