MOF-derived hollow heterostructures for advanced electrocatalysis

Hollow nanostructures, particularly for hollow heterotructures that derived from metal-organic-framework (MOF), show great promise for the application in electrochemical conversion and storage owing to their favorable geometric morphology and electronic structure. To fulfill the increasing global demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources, significant research efforts have been devoted to the design and fabrication of well-defined hollow heterostructures with manipulated geometric morphology, modified surface and heterointerfaces, optimized electronic structure, and diverse composition in the past decade. Here, a comprehensive overview of the compositional and structural properties of hollow heterostructure, which provides a large surface area, void spaces, and multiple interfaces for electrolytes/reactants impregnation, reduced diffusion lengths for mass transport, as well as structural strength for suppressing agglomeration, is firstly presented. Thereafter, a brief classification of the design and construction of hollow heterotructures that derived from MOFs is also described, including template-induced assembly, dissolution-regeneration, selective chemical etching, etc. Subsequently, the niche applications of hollow heterotructures as electrode materials for oxygen- and hydrogen- involved energy conversion devices, and rechargeable batteries are particularly highlighted. Finally, the emerging challenges and further research directions of hollow heterotructures for electrochemical energy conversion and storage are also concluded.