Two facile routes to an AB&Cu-MOF composite with improved hydrogen evolution reaction

The exploration of high-efficiency electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) still remains a tremendous challenge for energy conversion. Herein, a composite made from acetylene black (AB) and Cu-based metal-organic frameworks (Cu.BTC) via two different strategies shows distinctly electrocatalytic HER performance. The distinctive design of Cu.BTC incorporated AB exhibits high-efficiency HER activity with a smaller overpotential of 208 mV at −10 mA cm−2, lower Tafel slope of 80 mV·dec−1 and long-term stability of at least 18 h. This work may provide a new strategy for the preparation of conductive MOFs-composite materials.