Recent advances in metal/covalent organic frameworks based materials: Their synthesis, structure design and potential applications for hydrogen production

In recent years, both-organic frameworks (MOFs) based and covalent-organic frameworks (COFs) based materials have been extensively utilized for catalysis because of their specific surface area, tunable porosity, and structural versatility. Amongst the various MOFs/COFs-based catalysis implementation, catalytic hydrogen production (H₂) processes have subbed attention to alternative energy stemming from fossil fuel and the increasing global warming issue. As the growing demand for a sustainable, renewable, safe, and stable energy supply for the future is in urgent need, had urgently needed potential green energy or future energy attributed to the promising power-to-gas energy storage technology and the environmentally friendly zero carbon emission. Nowadays, most of the hydrogen is granted by the reforming reactions because of its mature large-scale production technology and economic benefits; in addition, electrochemical water splitting is another prospective route for hydrogen generation to fulfill the carbon reality. In this review, we provide an overview of the recent applications and developments of hydrogen production by using MOFs/COFs and the derived catalysts, including (1) the steam reforming reaction, (2) the dry reforming reaction, (3) the electrocatalytic water splitting, (4) the photocatalytic water splitting, and (5) the photo-electrocatalytic water splitting. Furthermore, we focus on the design of MOF/COF-based catalysts. Finally, the opportunities and challenges are also overviewed to guide the MOFs/COFs-derived catalysts applied for their hydrogen production (H₂).