Over the past decade, the development in the valorization of biomass technologies keeps increasing because the biomass utilization for manufacturing fine chemicals and fuels has diverse advantages over fossil feedstock. The review focuses on the utilization of metal−organic framework-derived (MOF-derived) materials as effective solid catalysts for the valorization of biomass into platform chemicals. MOFs compose of abundant organic ligands and metal cluster, and additional functional groups, could be modified on ligands (or metal clusters) serving as active sites. On the other hand, MOFs could also be converted into porous carbons or metal oxide composites by calcination at nitrogen or air, respectively, for catalytic reactions. These MOF-derived catalysts feature advantages like high specific surface area, porosity, and active sites from mother MOFs. More importantly, stronger interactions between guests (i.e., metal or alloy NPs) and hosts (i.e., MOF-derived carbons or metal oxides) make these catalysts more efficient than conventional catalysts where guests are deposited on hosts by impregnation. We summarize the studies of lignocellulosic biomass conversion including (1) dehydration of sugars such as glucose, fructose, and xylose into furans, (2) hydrogenation of furans into fine chemicals, and (3) sugars into sugar alcohols using MOF-derived catalysts. The challenges and prospective of MOF-derived materials applied in biomass conversion are also described.

In this study, the effectiveness of using a perovskite/Zr‐metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) heterojunction in realizing efficient and stable inverted p–i–n perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) is demonstrated. Two types of Zr‐MOFs, UiO‐66 and MOF‐808, are investigated owing to their respectable moisture and chemical stabilities. The MOFs while serving as an interlayer in conjunction with the perovskite film are shown to possess the advantages of UV‐filtering capability and enhancing perovskite crystallinity. Consequently, the UiO‐66/MOF‐808‐modified PVSCs yield enhanced power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 17.01% and 16.55%, outperforming the control device (15.79%). While further utilizing a perovskite/Zr‐MOF hybrid heterojunction to fabricate the devices, the hybrid MOFs are found to possibly distribute over the perovskite grain boundary providing a grain‐locking effect to simultaneously passivate the defects and to reinforce the film's robustness against moisture invasion. As a result, the PCEs of the UiO‐66/MOF‐808‐hybrid PVSCs are further enhanced to 18.01% and 17.81%, respectively. Besides, over 70% of the initial PCE is retained after being stored in air (25 °C and relative humidity of 60 ± 5%) for over 2 weeks, in contrast to the quick degradation observed for the control device. This study demonstrates the promising potential of using perovskite/MOF heterojunctions to fabricate efficient and stable PVSCs.

Nanoporous carbon nanoparticles with high graphitic nitrogen amounts were synthesized and used as a metal free catalyst for effective HMF-to-FDCA conversion.

In this study, a plasma surface modification with printing process was developed to fabricate printed flexible conductor patterns or devices directly on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface. An atmospheric plasma treatment was first used to oxidize the PDMS surface and create a hydrophilic silica surface layer, which was confirmed with photoelectron spectra. The plasma operating parameters, such as gas types and plasma powers, were optimized to obtain surface silica layers with the longest lifetime. Conductive paste with epoxy resin was screen-printed on the plasma-treated PDMS surface to fabricate flexible conductive tracks. As a result of the strong binding forces between epoxy resin and the silica surface layer, the printed patterns showed great adhesion on PDMS and were undamaged after several stringent adhesion tests. The printed conductive tracks showed strong mechanical stability and exhibited great electric conductivity under bending, twisting, and stretching conditions. Finally, a printed pressure sensor with good sensitivity and a fast response time was fabricated to demonstrate the capability of this method for the realization of printed electronic devices.

In this study, a simple and effective direct inkjet printing method was developed to prepare porphyrinic metal-organic framework (MOF) thin films for electrocatalysis. First, crystals of a zirconium-based porphyrinic MOF (MOF-525) with crystal sizes ranging from 100 to 700 nm were synthesized by adjusting the content of benzoic acid in the solvothermal synthetic process. The synthesized crystals showed similar surface area of 2500 m 2 /g with a unique pore size of 1.85 nm. However, some structural defects was found in the smallest crystals of 100 nm due to the fast crystallization process. After suspended in dimethylformamide, the MOF crystal suspensions were inkjet printed to fabricate uniform MOF-525 thin film patterns. With the help of great precision in liquid deposition, thicknesses of the printed MOF-525 thin films can be accurately controlled by the number of printed layers. With smaller crystal size, the printed MOF thin films showed more compact stacking and better contact with the substrate. The printed MOF thin films were applied for electrocatalytic nitrite oxidation. The effects of both film thickness and crystal size on printed film morphology and electrocatalytic activity were investigated in details. The printed MOF nitrite sensor showed a great detection limit of 0.72 μM and a high sensitivity of 40.6 μA/mM-cm 2 . In summary, this study demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed printing process for electrochemically addressable MOF thin films and can be further applied for many other electrochemical applications.