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.

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.

In gold nanoparticles the surface metal atoms play a major role, determining their chemical and physical properties by interacting with donor-acceptor species or ligands in a similar way as the related metal complexes. In addition, coherent oscillations of the metal electrons in resonance with the frequency of the exciting light give rise to localized surface plasmons responsible for an enhancement of the local electric field and SERS effect, allowing a wide range of applications in chemistry, biology and nanotechnology. Multifunctional bridging ligands can be employed for simultaneously binding metal ions and surface atoms. The attractive point of this approach is the possibility of exploiting the charge controlled stabilization by the metal complexes, while imparting new characteristics and properties to the modified nanoparticles. As a matter of fact, a new, exciting field of coordination chemistry can be envisaged, combining metal nanoparticles and metal complexes, in the light of supramolecular and surface plasmon resonance effects.

In this work, electrode materials based on ZnCo₂O₄for the HER/OER/ORR and energy storage devices were reviewed considering their key multifunctional role in the way to a more sustainable society.