Controllable synthesis of highly uniform cuboid-shape MOFs and their derivatives for lithium-ion battery and photocatalysis applications

•We report controllable synthesis of uniform cuboid-shape MOFs at room temperature.•The formation mechanism of cuboid-shape MOFs is investigated.•Highly porous ZnO, ZnS and ZnCo2O4 cuboids can be derived from cuboid-shape MOFs.•As LIBs anode, ZnCo2O4 cuboids exhibit excellent electrochemical performance.

Size and shape controlled, in particular, scaling-down synthesis of uniform metal organic frameworks (MOFs) is a challenge. Importantly, MOFs derivatives have received great interest in energy fields owing to their highly porous structure and large surface areas. Here, we demonstrate the controllable large-scale synthesis of highly uniform cuboid-shape MOFs using an eco-friendly method at room temperature. The cuboid-shape ZIF-L is first synthesized until now. We have also explored its derivatives, which are applied in the fields of lithium-ion batteries. As a result, ZnCo2O4 cuboids demonstrate high discharge capacity of 995 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 for the second cycle, high rate capacity of 482 mA h g−1 at 3 A g−1, and long-term cyclic stability up to 250 cycles at 500 mAg−1. The porous ZnO cuboids exhibit good photocatalytic activity by degrading dyes (MB, RhB, and MO). The results demonstrate that ZIF-L cuboids and their derivatives have a good application prospect.

Graphical abstractWe demonstrate the controllable synthesis of uniform zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-L cuboids in water system at room temperature. We have also explored its derivatives, which exhibit good performance for lithium-ion battery and photocatalysis application.Download high-res image (135KB)Download full-size image