Orchestrated manipulation of the dynamic structural evolution of catalytic materials in service represents an effective approach to rationally architect the active phase for highly efficient catalysis. Herein, this study reports a 2D ultrathin nickel-based metal-organic framework (MOF) pre-catalyst, where multimetallic electronic cooperativity enables on-demand hierarchical regulation of the structural evolution as well as the catalytic process of the reconstruction-derived active phase, delivering oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance superior to benchmark RuO2. Tailored cobalt-iron co-substitution in nickel-based MOF strategically engineers the overall structural flexibility, controllably promoting the reconstruction process in alkaline media into ligand-anchored nickel oxyhydroxide active phases. Crucially, the controlled modulation of the structural state of reconstructed phases induces targeted metal-oxygen electronic interplay, steering active oxygen intermediate reconfiguration and reducing the thermodynamic bottleneck of the rate-determining step, ultimately achieving optimized catalytic pathways. This work precisely constructs MOF-derived reconstructed active phases and elucidates a programmed optimization mechanism governed by multimetallic electronic interplay, which dynamically bridges structural transformation and catalytic activity enhancement. A promising approach is showcased to accurately design high-efficiency electrocatalysts through programming dynamic structural evolution.
Sun et al. (2025) studied this question.