Environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar and wind power as alternatives to fossil fuels are strategic for meeting the energy needs of an increasingly demanding population, but they are periodic or intermittent in nature, making energy storage devices fundamental for the realization of a sustainable society. Thus, the quest for much higher power and energy dense devices, especially hybrid supercapacitors, as alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, has been scaling up since the combining of the outstanding power density of supercapacitive materials with the high energy density of battery-type materials into a single device. Despite their high resistance, transition metal oxides are promising electrode materials for use in devices, since their rich electrochemistry can be activated by three main strategies to boost the specific charge capacity, charge–discharge and ion diffusion kinetics, and cyclability of devices via: (a) the incorporation of hetero-atoms that generate trimetallic oxides, (b) nanostructuration via hierarchical core@shell furry and mesoporous systems, and (c) combination with other materials to generate nanocomposites. These strategies, especially those leading to highly porous 3D core@shell architecture nanomaterials, are very successful, where trimetallic oxides, and ternary ^TLDHs and multicomponent systems, realized via the combination of mono- and/or bimetallic oxides and hydroxides, have demonstrated exceptionally good performances as electrode materials, presenting bright new perspectives for the future of hybrid energy storage devices.

The frenetic global development is improving the average quality of life in an unprecedented way, but at the expense of increasing pressure on natural resources, environmental pollution and energy demand, which are being exacerbated by population growth and industrialization in developing countries. The energy demand probably is the one contributing the most to such a situation, thus urging the development of clean and renewable alternative energy sources in order to avoid an imminent energy crisis in the near future. A possible solution is a society in which most energy needs are fulfilled by photoinduced or electrochemical water-splitting, storing solar energy as hydrogen and dioxygen gas, and releasing the chemical energy in fuel cells while regenerating water. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the oxygen reduction reaction taking place respectively in water-splitting and fuel cells are quite sluggish because of their multielectronic and multiprotonic nature. Catalysts such as IrO₂ and RuO₂ are being successfully used as state-of-the-art OER electrocatalysts but such noble metal-based materials are severely limited by their scarcity and high cost. Thus, noble metal free electro/photocatalysts are being eagerly pursued to provide more sustainable alternatives. In this context, vanadium-based and vanadium-containing electro and photocatalysts based on hydroxides/oxyhydroxides/oxides, vanadates, chalcogenides and nitrides stand out among the most promising alternatives, and recent advances have demonstrated their key role in enhancing the catalytic activity by strong synergic electronic and structural effects. In fact, such high-performance materials have potential in the fabrication of fuel cells and photosynthetic devices competitive enough in converting chemical energy into electricity and solar energy into solar fuel, enabling large-scale production, storage and usage of the infinite energy of the sun in a more convenient and safe manner. Perspectives are also provided on the preparation, evaluation of synergic effects in OER electro/photocatalytic activity, and their correlation with the electronic and crystalline structure of the materials, as well as on the electrode material design.

Herein, electrocatalysts for water-splitting and supercapacitor electrode materials based on MOF-derived sulfides are reviewed, considering their key multifunctional roles on the path to a more sustainable society.