The production of green hydrogen through electrochemical water electrolysis has been considered a critical pathway toward a sustainable energy future. However, its efficiency is severely limited by the kinetically sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which drives the need to develop high-activity, nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts. To bridge fundamental principles with contemporary research, we present an integrated, inquiry-based experiment for undergraduate students that explores the synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical evaluation of metal–organic framework (MOF) nanoarrays of OER electrocatalysts. Conducted in an electrochemical engineering laboratory, the experiment enables the comparative study of a Ni-benzenedicarboxylate (Ni-BDC) MOF in both conventional bulk-powder and substrate-grown nanoarray morphologies. The design encompasses key concepts in coordination chemistry, materials characterization, and electrochemical analysis. Through direct performance comparison and post-OER characterization, students actively investigate the decisive influence of nanoarchitecture on catalytic activity, kinetics, and durability, thereby elucidating the core “structure-property-performance” relationship. This hands-on experiment effectively consolidates multidisciplinary knowledge and provides students with a practical understanding of advanced materials design for sustainable energy applications.
Cheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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