Rational Design of Advanced Metal Organic Framework-Based Nanostructured Catalysts toward Electrocatalytic CO₂ Conversion: A Mini Review

Carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere, which originates from fossil fuels consumption, has led to a serious environmental and energy crisis. Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) into valuable chemicals such as carbon monoxide, ethanol, ethylene, and methane not only help lower the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere but is also beneficial for sustainable energy production. Therefore, numerous works are assigned to improving efficient electrocatalytic materials for the selective CO2RR. Metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived catalytic materials mostly based on transition metals demonstrate permissible CO2RR owing to their specific composition, tunable surface nanostructure and texture, and affordable market prices. In this work, the best effort is put to describe the most basic concept of electrochemical CO2RR to provide a consensus. The effect of MOF structure and surface analysis are discussed. This is reason that MOFs as catalysts for electrochemical CO2RR offers several advantages over traditional catalysts, such as tunable surface structure, multi-functionality, selectivity control, and stability under CO2RR operation. And then, some of the most recent reported works on MOF-based catalysts are summarized, to provide and inspire further investigations and ideas in this research field. However, despite these advantages, there are still research gaps that need to be addressed. Some of these gaps include being cost-effective and economical process for preparing MOF-based catalysts, long-term stability for industrial usage, and scalability of the catalyst. Thereby, further studies are essential to fully exploit the potential of MOFs in advancing CO2RR technologies.