Organic carboxylate-based MOFs and derivatives for electrocatalytic water oxidation

• Carboxylate MOF materials are summarized for OER application for the first time. • The carboxylate MOFs are categorized according to their compositions and structures. • OER properties of carboxylate MOFs are exhaustively compared and summarized. • Outlook is provided based on the analysis of the reported data in literature. As oxygen evolution reaction (OER) being a critical and bottleneck reaction in a wide range of energy applications, searching for highly-efficient OER electrocatalysts is of great significance. Among numerous candidates, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated outstanding potential due to their exceptional structural advantages. This review summarizes a representative family of MOF materials, the carboxylate-based MOFs and derivatives as electrocatalysts for OER. With various carboxylate-metal coordinations, unique nanostructures can be constructed such as nanosheets, nanorods, polyhedrons, porous frameworks etc., making them suitable as pristine electrocatalysts or as precursors for carbon-composite catalysts. This review begins with a brief introduction on the structural advantages and synthetic approaches of carboxylate-based MOFs, followed by a discussion on recent advances of these materials in OER, where the effects of structural variation on the catalytic activity are emphasized. Furthermore, several types of the corresponding MOF derivatives are summarized. Finally, outlook on the development of carboxylate-based MOFs and derivatives for OER electrocatalysis is provided.