Nanoarchitectured MOF-derived porous carbons: Road to future carbon materials

This review aims to offer strategic synthesis of new carbon materials under the thematic concept of “nanoarchitectonics” applied to metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived porous carbons. The background tracing of carbon materials in terms of the development of carbon microstructure is outlined first to offer the microstructural level of understanding of traditional carbons as well as recent MOF-derived porous carbons. Subsequently, we present the discussion on the effect of nanopore size on the formation of an electrical double layer, and justify the electrochemical rationale behind the need for nanoarchitecturing of porous carbon materials. Traditional synthetic strategies of template-free and template-based methods and the previous porous carbon materials are also discussed as the potential synthetic methods and approaches available for nanoarchitecturing of MOF-derived porous carbons. Various examples of nanoarchitectured MOF-derived porous carbons are then presented and discussed based on the careful categorization into template-free methods including bottom–up and top–down approaches and template-based methods including hard- and soft-template approaches. This review therefore aims to summarize and extend the current knowledge of nanoarchitectured MOF-derived porous carbons to offer intuitions and innovations toward future carbon materials. We also offer future directions with considerations on the challenges and innovations in the current field of nanoarchitectured MOF-derived porous carbons.