Molecular-functionalized metal-organic frameworks enabling contact-electro-catalytic organic decomposition

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been used in triboelectric areas for either improving the outputs or expanding some novel applications. However, research on the effects of the grafted groups of MOFs molecular to triboelectricity remains scarce. Here, we modified the MIL-101(Cr) with three groups (pyridine, amino, nitro) to obtain a series of X-MOFs (X = -PY, -NH2, -H and -NO2) and clarified their position in triboelectric series. The great electron-donating ability of pyridine granted PY-MOF positive tribo-polarity and effectively improved the power density by 9.6 times. Moreover, PY-MOF was proved as significant contact-electro-catalytic (CEC) material with degradation rate of 97% in 3 h via degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous environment. This work shows that the modification of MOF molecular with functional groups can modulate the triboelectric properties of MOFs for largely improving the output performance and show great application prospects in the field of tribo-catalysis. [Display omitted] •The MIL-101(Cr) was modified with functional groups (X = -pyridine (PY), -NH2, -H, or -NO2) to obtain the X-MOFs.•The position of X-MOFs in triboelectric series was clarified to be between PA and PET.•The PY-MOF with great tribo-positive effectively improved the power density by 9.6 times.•The degradation rate of methylene blue solution by PY-MOF reached 97% in 3 h.