Recent trends and perspectives in electrochemical sensors based on MOF-derived materials

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are hybrid materials built with both organic and inorganic components. The potential of these structures was highlighted in the 1990s and since then, over 90 000 articles dealing with MOFs have been published (still growing rapidly), demonstrating a wide variety of applications. However, an improvement in the electrochemical properties of MOFs is still required to enhance the attributes to satisfy the real and strategic applications of MOF-electrode materials in energy conversion and storage (batteries, supercapacitors, and as catalysts for fuel cells and water splitting), especially in the development of electrochemical sensors. In this sense, being the focus of this review, the great potential of MOF-derived structures for the construction of electrochemical sensors is presented, highlighting the recent advances and strategies on MOF-derived materials, such as metals, metal oxide/hydroxide, metal sulfides, metal phosphides, carbons, or their composites and their potential as electrode materials. In fact, MOF-derived materials exhibit exceptional conductivity, electrochemical activity, and stability, which surpass the relative low conductivity and lack chemical/structural robustness of pristine MOFs, inheriting only the essential structural and compositional properties from their MOF precursors. Considering the demand for highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensors, MOF-derived materials and their composites have demonstrated relevant advances in electrochemical sensing, as summarized in this review article.