Kinetic and Thermodynamic Insights into Advanced Energy Storage Mechanisms of Battery-Type Bimetallic Metal-Organic Frameworks

The engineering of high-performance battery-type electrode materials highly depends on the guidance from the combination of experimental analysis and theoretical simulation. Herein, the joint experimental-theoretical investigation provides a mechanistic explanation for the electrochemical performance enhancement in bimetallic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The superior CoNi-MOF in our study exhibits advanced electrochemical energy storage performance, achieving a high specific capacity of 382 C g-1 (1 A g-1), 2.0 and 1.4 times that of Co-MOF and Ni-MOF, respectively. Such a significant enhancement results from the surface-controlled reaction kinetics and the low onset potential contributed by the well tuned electronic structures of bimetallic MOFs. Our study opens up new perspectives for understanding the advantages of mixed metal sites in MOFs for electrochemical energy storage.