Modulating zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 and its derivatives as advanced oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as an important half-reaction of water splitting, hinders the efficiency of electrocatalysis water owing to a sluggish kinetic process. Therefore, fabricating a high activity OER electrocatalyst is crucial for the development of water splitting. Due to the nitrogen-containing ligands, highly dispersed Co active site, abundant Co-N bonds, tunable pore structure, and large surface area, zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) based compositions have attracted extensive attention in the preparation of non-noble electrocatalysts for OER. Additionally, diverse modification methods have been developed to construct ZIF-67 based electrocatalysts and regulate their active sites, such as coordination environment optimization, morphology engineering, heteroatom incorporation, heterostructure construction, and hybridization. Herein, the advanced modulation strategies on ZIF-67 based compositions for OER performance enhancement are summarized, highlighting the synthetic approaches, the engineering principle, and catalytic mechanisms. The current challenges and perspectives for developing the next-generation OER electrocatalysts are presented at the end.