Electrochemical deposition for metal organic Frameworks: Advanced Energy, Catalysis, sensing and separation applications

The advent of metal–organic frameworks has gathered ever-increasing attention owing to their versatility, unparalleled porosity, tuneability, and rich topography. The need for an efficient synthetic method and the trending appeal for thin film MOFs has brought in huge data on electrochemical deposition techniques. Thin films have immense applications in the field of electronics (including energy devices such as batteries and supercapacitors), sensors, catalysis, and as liquid/gas separation devices. Here, the electrodeposition method requires no pre-treatment step, allows miniaturization, a homogeneous film with desirable thickness, and is observed to be an eco-friendly method. The limited number of articles focusing on the supremacy of the technique has motivated the authors to collectively summarize the scattered data. To limit the discussion to reasonable bounds, the article focuses on a critical comparison of electrodeposition techniques with other synthetic methods, and different types of electrodeposition methods, and familiarize them with the various electrodeposited MOF-composite designs. Finally, we discuss extensively the existing as well as future applications. This will encourage future researchers to exploit this electrochemical technique for designing & developing newer MOF films and similar next-generation materials which are energy-efficient, rapid, and accurate while in use. This review article hopes to list out significant advances in the area to the advantage of both commercial and academic aspects.