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Abstract
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Nowadays, there is much research focused on advanced technologies for energy storage and conversion
in order to mitigate environmental pollution and address concerns on future energy crises.
Supercapacitors, batteries, and electrocatalytic splitting of water are some of the very important technologies
in this field with a constantly growing attention. The development of an ideal and efficient electrode
material made of non-noble metals with good stability and behavior represents the main challenge
in these fields. Metalorganic frameworks (MOFs), composed of metal ions and organic linkers, are
appealing materials because of their remarkable structural diversity, tunable pore sizes and topologies,
tailorable surface chemistry, and multiple functionalities. Engineering structural and electronic states
of MOFs through decoration of functional entities is an effective way to advance the design of electrocatalysts
and enhance their properties. Compared to mono- and bimetallic metal–organic frameworks, multimetallic
MOFs may have several advantages in the context of new energy technologies, namely a
significantly enhanced electrochemical activity and electronic conductivity due to possible synergic
effect. Addition of other metals to secondary building units (SBUs) of a MOF structure is an effective
method for enhancing its electrochemical behavior and electrical conductivity, owing to an increasing
number of exposed active sites, superior charge capacity, and charge transfer between different ions. A
stability problem of pristine MOFs can also be solved by incorporating second and third metals that
are less affected by hydrolysis. In heterotrimetallic MOFs, the ratios of metals can be adjusted and controlled,
allowing to tune various physicochemical properties. Moreover, the materials obtained from the
calcination of trimetallic MOFs can preserve their porosity, so the morphology of an electrocatalyst prepared
in this way can be adjusted during the synthesis of metal–org
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