Investigation of metal organic frameworks and bacterial cellulose derived hybrid materials for energy applications

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a type of cellulose obtained by fermentation of various microorganisms at low cost, high purity, on a large scale and with an environmentally friendly production method. Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) have emerged as a new class of porous crystalline materials formed as a result of the bonding of metal or metal clusters with organic binders. MOFs are of more interest than other porous materials due to their properties such as normal pore size, interconnected pore structure, highly tunable chemical functionality, and ultra-high specific surface area. MOF-BC derived hybrid materials in electrochemical applications are a fairly new research topic and an exemplary approach to green energy applications. Here, metal (Fe-Ni)/N doped reticulated carbon-based hybrid materials with a highly porous, three-dimensional interconnected network were synthesized by in-situ synthesis method on the BC nanofibril skeleton of zeolytic imidazolate frame-based nanocrystals. They were then produced by carbonization under an inert atmosphere. The results of the analysis of the obtained materials against the commercial Pt / C catalyst were objectively evaluated. Their outstanding oxygen reduction reaction catalytic performance, surpassing the commercial Pt/C catalyst, shows that the synthesized metal-doped carbon based hybrid structures are promising materials for the future.