Alkali-Etched Ni(II)-Based Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheet Arrays for Electrocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

The exploration of efficient electrocatalysts is the central issue for boosting the overall efficiency of water splitting. Herein, pertinently creating active sites and improving conductivity for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is proposed to tailor electrocatalytic properties for overall water splitting. An Ni(II)-MOF nanosheet array is presented as an ideal material model and a facile alkali-etched strategy is developed to break its NiO bonds accompanied with the introduction of extra-framework K cations, which contribute to creating highly active open metal sites and largely improving the electrical conductivity. As a result, the assembled defect-Ni-MOF||defect-Ni-MOF electrolyte cell delivers a lower and stable voltage of 1.50 V at 10 mA cm^-2 in alkaline medium for overall water splitting, comparable to the combination of iridium and platinum as benchmark catalysts.