Fe-based metal-organic frameworks and their derivatives for electrochemical energy conversion and storage

With the increasing industrial activities, the surge of population, rising global climate change concerns, as well as the increasing energy consumption and demands, traditional rechargeable batteries have started losing the capacity to meet the needs of current and future markets. In order to rise up to this challenge, the development of advanced, flexible and controllable energy technology has become the need of the hour. Development of electrochemical energy conversion and storage (EECS) technology is a potential way forward because of its high energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. One way to improve the efficiency of EECS devices is to focus on the development and improvement of their components, such as electrode materials, separators and catalysts. Recently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have become an emerging class of crystalline materials in materials science and coordination chemistry due to their unique activity, interesting properties and tunable structures. Among various transition-metal based MOFs, iron (Fe)-based metal organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) have attracted special attention due to their excellent physicochemical properties and the abundance of iron. Herein, this article reviews the recent applications of Fe-MOFs and their derivatives in electrochemical energy conversion and storage. In this review, the synthesis methods of Fe-MOFs and their derivatives, energy storage applications of Fe-MOFs in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), supercapacitors (SCs), electrocatalysis and other batteries are discussed in detail. In addition, the achievements and challenges of Fe-MOFs and their derivatives in the fields of rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and electrocatalysis are summarized. Furthermore, the possible innovative design principles and future prospects of Fe-MOFs and their derivatives as EECS materials are presented.