As the transition toward clean and renewable energy accelerates, efficient oxygen electrocatalysis is essential for fuel cells, water electrolyzers, metal–air batteries, and other energy-conversion technologies. However, conventional catalysts often depend on scarce noble metals, while emerging alternatives face challenges including poor conductivity, limited active-site accessibility, and insufficient stability. Researchers from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, led by Professors Yanping Zhu and Xiaogang Zhang, present a comprehensive review of covalent organic framework (COF)-based oxygen electrocatalysts. The review establishes a structure–property–mechanism framework linking molecular design, electronic regulation, structural engineering, and reaction-pathway control for next-generation OER and ORR catalysts.
Why These COF Electrocatalysts Matter
COFs are crystalline porous polymers whose organic building blocks, covalent linkages, pore structures, coordination sites, and functional groups can be deliberately engineered. The review classifies oxygen electrocatalytic COFs into porphyrin-based, metal-based, metal-free, and radical COFs, highlighting distinct approaches to constructing M–N4 sites, post-synthetic metal centers, heteroatom-rich active environments, and radical catalytic sites. This molecular-level tunability enables COFs to move beyond empirical composition optimization toward precise control of oxygen-intermediate adsorption and reaction pathways.
Innovative Design and Mechanism
