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In this study, Co-bearing Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are grown via a facile solvothermal process on the surface of two kinds of conductive substrates – titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO 2 NT) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass and tested as electrodes in the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The materials derived from three organic linkers - terephthalic acid (Co-BDC), 2-aminoterephthalic acid (Co-BDCNH 2 ), and trimesic acid (Co-BTC) are characterized by FTIR, Raman, XRD, SEM-EDS, BET, and XPS. Among the layers on FTO without post-synthesis treatment, Co-BTC shows the highest activity (overpotential of HER 1.72 V vs. Ag/AgCl/KCl). The effects of substrate change on TiO 2 NT and annealing of Co-BTC layers in air and argon on their electrocatalytic properties are also studied. Using TiO 2 nanotubes as a substrate and annealing the material in air results in a reduction of the hydrogen evolution overpotential to 1.44 V vs. Ag/AgCl/KCl and a significant reduction in the exchange current density. • Co-based MOFs were successfully fabricated on FTO and TiO 2 NT. • Electrochemical activity depended more on organic linker than substrate type. • Annealing of Co-BTC materials improves catalytic activity in HER.
Łukasik et al. (Wed,) studied this question.