The Design of Intrinsically Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks for Thermoelectric Materials

Thermoelectric (TE) materials offer exciting promise in the development of sustainable, green energy alternatives. Ideal TE materials promote high electrical conductivity, whilst effectively scattering phonons for reduced thermal conductivity, thus giving the phonon-glass electron-crystal concept. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a versatile class of materials that could meet these criteria. The high crystallinity of MOFs can offer effective pathways for charge transport whilst their intrinsic high porosity yields ultralow thermal conductivity. The high structural diversity of MOFs, owing to the versatile coordination of metal cation/cluster and linker offers the potential to systematically tune their properties for TE performance. This review examines the advancement in the design strategies that have thus far been implemented toward intrinsically conductive MOFs and how these should be tailored for application toward TE materials. By addressing the challenges and leveraging the unique properties of MOFs, future research can pave the way for innovative and efficient TE MOF materials.