Mild Construction of “Midas Touch” Metal–Organic Framework-Based Catalytic Electrodes for Highly Efficient Overall Seawater Splitting

Mild construction of highly efficient and durable practical electrodes for overall water splitting (OWS) at industrial-grade current density is currently a significant challenge. Herein, metal–organic framework (MOF) materials are grown in situ on the surface of carbon cloth (CC) at 25 °C, and quickly “interspersed” by cobalt–boron (Co–B) via electroless plating for 30 min to obtain a highly efficient and stable CoB@MOF@CC self-supporting electrode. Owing to the large specific surface area, abundant active sites, and porous structure, the MOF-based CC modified by bamboo leaf-like ultrathin CoB has remarkable electrochemical catalysis efficiency. The CoB@MOF@CC electrode exhibits excellent performance during the hydrogen evolution reaction (η 10 = 57 mV, η 500 = 266 mV) and oxygen evolution reaction (η 10 = 209 mV, η 500 = 423 mV) in alkaline simulated seawater, and is durable for 2500 h at 500 mA cm −2 . The OWS performance is obviously enhanced by employing the prepared electrode, which only requires 1.49 V to achieve 10 mA cm −2 and is durable for over 360 h at industrial-grade current densities in alkaline high-salt, real seawater, rainwater, and urea electrolytes.