A General Approach to Direct Growth of Oriented Metal–Organic Framework Nanosheets on Reduced Graphene Oxides

Ultrathin metal–organic framework nanosheets (UMOFNs) deposited on graphene are highly attractive, however direct growth of UMOFNs on graphene with controlled orientations remains challenging. Here, a low-concentration-assisted heterogeneous nucleation strategy is reported for the direct growth of UMOFNs on reduced graphene oxides (rGO) surface with controllable orientations. This general strategy can be applied to construct various UMOFNs on rGO, including Co-ZIF, Ni-ZIF, Co, Cu-ZIF and Co, Fe-ZIF. When UMOFNs are mostly attached perpendicularly on rGO, a 3D foam-like hierarchical architecture (named UMOFNs@rGO-F) is formed with an open pore structure and excellent conductivity, showing excellent performance as electrode materials for Li-ion batteries and oxygen evolution. The contribution has provided a strategy for improving the electrochemical performance of MOFs in energy storage applications.