Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-derived materials have recently attracted considerable interest as alternatives to noble-metal electrocatalysts. Herein, the rational design and synthesis of a new class of Co@N-C materials (C-MOF-C2-T) from a pair of enantiotopic chiral 3D MOFs by pyrolysis at temperature T is reported. The newly developed C-MOF-C2-900 with a unique 3D hierarchical rodlike structure, consisting of homogeneously distributed cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated by partially graphitized N-doped carbon rings along the rod length, exhibits higher electrocatalytic activities for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions (ORR and OER) than that of commercial Pt/C and RuO , respectively. Primary Zn-air batteries based on C-MOF-900 for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) operated at a discharge potential of 1.30 V with a specific capacity of 741 mA h g under 10 mA cm . Rechargeable Zn-air batteries based on C-MOF-C2-900 as an ORR and OER bifunctional catalyst exhibit initial charge and discharge potentials at 1.81 and 1.28 V (2 mA cm ), along with an excellent cycling stability with no increase in polarization even after 120 h - outperform their counterparts based on noble-metal-based air electrodes. The resultant rechargeable Zn-air batteries are used to efficiently power electrochemical water-splitting systems, demonstrating promising potential as integrated green energy systems for practical applications.

A nanotubular metal-organic framework (MOF), {[(WS(4)Cu(4))I(2)(dptz)(3)]·DMF}(n) (dptz = 3,6-di(pyridin-4-yl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) for sensing small solvent molecules is presented. When accommodating different solvent molecules as guests, the resulting inclusion compounds exhibit different colors depending on the solvent guests, and more interestingly, the band gaps of these solvent-included complexes are in linear correlation with the polarity of the guest solvents. The solvent molecules can be sensed by the changes of UV-vis spectra of the corresponding inclusion compounds, showing a new way of signal transduction as a new kind of sensor. The sensing by such a MOF occurs within the channel-containing material rather than on the external surface.

The latest developments of bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for Zn–air batteries (ZABs) are comprehensively summarized and evaluated, laying special emphasis on the challenges, outlooks and directions of future research for the ZAB industry.

Two lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) with similar structures have been synthesized through objective synthesis. The two compounds are both 2-fold interpenetrating 3D frameworks. Topological analyses reveal that complexes 1 and 2 are 6-connected pcu net. In addition, both structures were embedded in uncoordinated nitrogen atoms. As the uncoordinated pyridine groups can be used as functional groups, we tested their sensing ability toward metal ions and small organic molecules. To our delight, fluorescence measurements show the two complexes can selectively and sensitively detect for Fe ion and nitromethane, which suggests that the two Ln-MOFs are promising bifunctional luminescence sensor materials with sensing metal ions and small organic molecules.

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MOF-derived Fe,Co@N-C bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions and oxygen evolution reactions have been prepared via a scalable method, exhibiting ultra-high catalytic activity and promising performance in Zn–air batteries.

Two luminescent Zn(II) metal-organic frameworks were prepared from a π-conjugated thiophene-containing carboxylic acid ligand. These two MOFs show strong luminescene and their luminescence could be quenched by a series of nitroaromatic explosives. Importantly, they exhibit very highly sensitive and selective detection of picric acid compared to other nitroaromatic explosives.

Tetrathiometalates [WS4]2− are the nodal building blocks in a new kind of heterometallic interpenetrating three‐dimensional cluster coordination polymer (see picture) that has interesting nonlinear optical properties. The polymer exhibits optical self‐focusing behavior and reverse saturable absorption effects.