Metamorphosis of Heterostructured Surface-Mounted Metal–Organic Frameworks Yielding Record Oxygen Evolution Mass Activities

Materials derived from surface-mounted metal–organic frameworks (SURMOFs) are promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). A series of mixed-metal, heterostructured SURMOFs is fabricated by the facile layer-by-layer deposition method. The obtained materials reveal record-high electrocatalyst mass activities of ≈2.90 kA g$^{-1}$ at an overpotential of 300 mV in 0.1 m KOH, superior to the benchmarking precious and nonprecious metal electrocatalysts. This property is assigned to the particular in situ self-reconstruction and self-activation of the SURMOFs during the immersion and the electrochemical treatment in alkaline aqueous electrolytes, which allows for the generation of NiFe (oxy)hydroxide electrocatalyst materials of specific morphology and microstructure.