MXene-induced electronic optimization of metal-organic framework-derived CoFe LDH nanosheet arrays for efficient oxygen evolution

[Display omitted] •CoFe MLDH/Ti3C2 was prepared by using Ti3C2 MXene as support and post-treating MOF with etching-coprecipitating process.•The MOF-directed morphology creates more accessible active sites.•The fascinating support of Ti3C2 MXene efficiently regulates the electronic structure of CoFe LDH.•Strong electronic coupling between CoFe LDH and Ti3C2 MXene is evidenced to modulate the binding strength of intermediates. Metal-organic framework (MOF)-based materials are regarded as potential electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) resulting from the abundant pore structures, large surface area and atomically dispersed metal centers, while their coordinately saturated metal nodes are inert to electrocatalysis. In this work, creating active sites while accelerating charge transport is proposed to improve the OER properties of MOF-derived layered double hydroxides (MLDH). By using multifunctional Ti3C2 MXene as support and post-treating MOF with an etching-coprecipitating process, the resultant CoFe MLDH/Ti3C2 exhibits prominent OER performance with ultralow overpotentials of only 170 and 238 mV to achieve the current density of 10 and 100 mA/cm2, respectively. In addition, the experimental and theoretical calculation results prove the strong electronic interaction between CoFe MLDH and Ti3C2 MXene could modulate the binding strength of intermediates for OER. This work gives a direction to prepare MOF-based efficient catalysts and enhance the intrinsic activity of (oxy)hydroxide-based catalysts.