General Synthesis of MOF Nanotubes via Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Frameworks toward Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysts

The application scope of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) can be extended by rationally designing the architecture and components of MOFs, which can be achieved via a metal-containing solid templated strategy. However, this strategy suffers from low efficiency and provides only one specific MOF from one template. Herein, we present a versatile templated strategy in which organic ligands are weaved into hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) for the controllable and scalable synthesis of MOF nanotubes. HOF nanowires assembled from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid and melamine via a simple sonochemical approach serve as both the template and precursor to produce MOF nanotubes with varied metal compositions. Hybrid nanotubes containing nanometal crystals and N-doped graphene prepared through a carbonization process show that the optimized NiRuIr alloy@NG nanotube exhibits excellent electrocatalytic HER activity and durability in alkaline media, outperforming most reported catalysts. The strategy proposed here demonstrates a pioneering study of combination of HOF and MOF, which shows great potential in the design of other nanosized MOFs with various architectures and compositions for potential applications.