Copper-cobalt bimetallic conductive metal–organic frameworks as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst in alkaline and neutral media

The preparation of low cost bifunctional electrocatalysts that efficiently catalyze oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a crucial step towards realizing high-performance Zn–air batteries. Herein a bimetallic CuCo-HITP (HITP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene) conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) was synthesized as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and ORR through an effective and facile ammonia-assisted method. Structural characterization showed that the metal ions coordinated with HITP ligands through strong coordination bonds of M − N4 to construct a two-dimensional (2D) porous structure. The electrochemical tests demonstrated that CuCo-HITP had superior bifunctional OER and ORR electrocatalytic performance in both alkaline and neutral media. It should be attributed to the bimetallic synergistically effect, which lead to more active sites, faster charge transfer rate and improvement of the catalytic reaction kinetics.