The literature on inorganic open-framework materials abounds in the synthesis and characterization of metal silicates, phosphates and carboxylates. Most of these materials have an organic amine as the template. In the last few years, it has been shown that anions such as sulfate, selenite and selenate can also be employed to obtain organically templated open-framework materials. This tutorial review provides an up-to-date survey of organically templated metal sulfates, selenites and selenates, prepared under hydrothermal conditions. The discussion includes one-, two-, and three-dimensional structures of these materials, many of which possess open architectures. The article should be useful to practitioners of inorganic and materials chemistry, besides students and teachers. The article serves to demonstrate how most oxy-anions can be used to build complex structures with metal-oxygen polyhedra.

Co-MOF catalyzes the ORR efficiently with a lower onset potential (0.85 V vs. RHE) by a four electron reduction path with better durability. It needs only 280 mV overpotential to deliver the state-of-art current density of 10 mA cm−2.

The electronic spectra, electrical conductivity, magnetism, and gas adsorption properties of the newly prepared Prussian blue analogues Fe4[Ru(CN)6]3·18H2O (2) and K1.2Ru3.6[Ru(CN)6]3·16H2O (3) are compared with those of Prussian blue itself (Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3·14H2O, 1). The increase in the degree of electronic localization for the unsymmetrical iron−ruthenium analogue 2 is reflected in a shift of the intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) band to higher energies and an increase in the electrical resistivity. In contrast, the all-ruthenium analogue 3 exhibits a lower-energy IVCT band, as well as the highest electrical conductivity, due to the combined effects of electronic delocalization and the presence of potassium ions. Unlike Prussian blue, the ruthenium and iron−ruthenium analogues show no magnetic ordering transition above 1.8 K. Nitrogen adsorption measurements at 77 K show the dehydrated forms of 2 and 3 to be microporous with BET surface areas of 670 and 325 m2/g, respectively.

1,8-Diazacubane-templated nickel(II) sulfate with the Kagome structure prepared under solvothermal conditions exhibits interesting magnetic properties.

An amine-templated iron(II) sulfate of the composition [H 3 N(CH 2 ) 6 NH 3 ] [Fe II 1.5 F 3 (SO 4 )]‚ 0.5H 2 O, I, representing an example of a Kagome ´lattice with Fe in the +2 state, has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions. Having determined the structure by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, the oxidation state of iron was established by Mo ¨ssbauer spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of the Fe(II) Kagome ´compound are rather unusual in that it undergoes ferrimagnetic ordering below 19 K and does not exhibit spin-glass freezing.

The development of an active and efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction remains indispensable for the smooth running of an electrolyzer. Herein, we have synthesized two cobalt metal–organic frameworks (Co-MOFs) with the formulas [C6H6CoN2O4] (compound 1) and [C12H10CoN2O4] (compound 2) using pyrazine and 4,4′-bipyridine as linkers in dimethylformamide medium by a solvothermal method. Both Co-MOFs shows strong antiferromagnetic interactions with Θp = −70 and −61 K for compounds 1 and 2, respectively. The in situ transformation of both compounds catalyzes the OER efficiently in alkaline medium, affording a current density of 10 mA/cm2 at overpotentials of 276 ± 3 and 302 ± 3 mV by compounds 1 and 2, respectively. Moreover, compound 1 shows a very high turnover frequency (15.087 s–1), lower Tafel slope (56 mV/dec), and greater Faradaic efficiency of 95.42% in comparison to compound 2. The transformations of the Co-MOFs have been accessed by employing powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which reveal the formation of uniform hexagonal Co­(OH)2 plates. Therefore, the as-developed Co-MOF is found to be an efficient pre-electrocatalyst for the OER in alkaline medium. These results not only reveal the preparation of OER electrocatalysts from a Co-MOF but also establish a method to derive a potentially active electrocatalyst to substitute for the traditional noble-metal-based materials.

An amine-templated cobalt(II) sulfate with the kagome lattice, prepared for the first time, exhibits magnetic properties comparable to those of the analogous Fe(III) compounds.

In view of preparing efficient electrocatalysts for energy conversion applications, we have developed an eco-friendly, cost effective, single step method for the scalable synthesis of VS2 and its reduced graphene oxide composite VS4/rGO. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic performances of the catalysts have been studied toward the hydrogen evolution reaction in an acid medium (0.1 M H2SO4). Presumably, the large exposed electrochemical active surface area (27.7 cm2) and hexagonal crystal lattice of VS2 result in its dominating catalytic performance over that of the linear VS4/rGO composite. Also, a VS2 modified electrode was demonstrated to have better stability (with a negligible change in the overpotential even after 10 h and 43 h of continuous electrolysis) with a notably low Tafel slope (36 mV dec-1, close to that of commercial Pt/C) and onset potential (15 mV vs. RHE) with robust durability for long term application. A preliminary study on the photoelectrochemical activities of VS2 showed a significant decrease in the charge transfer resistance upon illumination of light on the electrode surface.