Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for electrocatalysis; however, lack of electrical conductivity in the majority of existing MOFs limits their effective utilization in the field. Herein, an excellent catalytic activity of a 2D copper (Cu)‐based conductive MOF, copper tetrahydroxyquinone (CuTHQ), is reported for aqueous CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) at low overpotentials. It is revealed that CuTHQ nanoflakes (NFs) with an average lateral size of 140 nm exhibit a negligible overpotential of 16 mV for the activation of this reaction, a high current density of ≈173 mA cm−2 at −0.45 V versus RHE, an average Faradaic efficiency (F.E.) of ≈91% toward CO production, and a remarkable turnover frequency as high as ≈20.82 s−1. In the low overpotential range, the obtained CO formation current density is more than 35 and 25 times higher compared to state‐of‐the‐art MOF and MOF‐derived catalysts, respectively. The operando Cu K‐edge X‐ray absorption near edge spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations reveal the existence of reduced Cu (Cu+) during CO2RR which reversibly returns to Cu2+ after the reaction. The outstanding CO2 catalytic functionality of conductive MOFs (c‐MOFs) can open a way toward high‐energy‐density electrochemical systems.

A lithium-air battery based on lithium oxide (Li 2 O) formation can theoretically deliver an energy density that is comparable to that of gasoline. Lithium oxide formation involves a four-electron reaction that is more difficult to achieve than the one- and two-electron reaction processes that result in lithium superoxide (LiO 2 ) and lithium peroxide (Li 2 O 2 ), respectively. By using a composite polymer electrolyte based on Li 10 GeP 2 S 12 nanoparticles embedded in a modified polyethylene oxide polymer matrix, we found that Li 2 O is the main product in a room temperature solid-state lithium-air battery. The battery is rechargeable for 1000 cycles with a low polarization gap and can operate at high rates. The four-electron reaction is enabled by a mixed ion–electron-conducting discharge product and its interface with air.

Electrochemical reduction of furfural (ECRFF) emerges as an efficient and sustainable means to obtain high-value chemicals and biofuels with the activity and product selectivity being sensitive to cathode materials. In this work, elementary steps describing furfuryl alcohol (FA) and 2-methylfuran (MF) production routes in ECRFF are studied by using periodic density functional theory on Ag, Pb, and Ni, as alternative cathode materials. The established Brønsted−Evans−Polanyi (BEP) relationship has been proven to be reliable to estimate energy barriers of C−O bond cleavage. The intrinsic characters of Ag, Pb, and Ni are then summarized in free energy diagrams to reflect the FA and MF production trends as future guidelines to evaluate ECRFF activity and selectivity on these metals. On all metal surfaces, at both terrace and stepped sites, the first C−H or O−H hydrogenation step, producing respective mh6 or mh7 intermediates, influences overall FA production. On Ag and Pb, pathways involving the mh6 intermediate are thermodynamically and kinetically favored, whereas on Ni, both mh6 and mh7 routes are competitive due to strong interactions between the furan ring and the substrate. In addition, these partially hydrogenated intermediates can also undergo C−O bond cleavage with reduced energy barriers (compared to direct C−O bond cleavage in furfural), which opens potential paths for parallel MF production. Conversion of FA into MF catalyzed by these metallic cathodes was considered as well, although the high C−O bond cleavage energy barrier is likely to hinder this process.

Three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous carbon sphere array (OMCS)-supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt/OMCS) were synthesized and studied as electrocatalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In the Pt/OMCS, the Pt particles with a mean size of ∼1.6 nm are homogeneously dispersed on the mesopore walls of the carbon spheres. The Pt/OMCS catalyst exhibits smaller Pt particle size, greater Pt dispersion, larger specific electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), higher activity for MOR and ORR, and better electrocatalytic stability than the carbon black (Vulcan XC-72R)-supported Pt and commercial Pt/C catalysts.