Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), also known as porous coordination polymers, are constructed using metal-containing nodes with organic bridges. With intrinsically ordered porous structure, MOFs are considered as a promising component to modify separator/electrolyte systems for rechargeable batteries. Herein, drawing upon the information collected from recent reports, we analysed and discussed the effects of MOF-based membranes on ion transmission. Both simulation calculations and experimental results indicated that the liquid electrolyte filled MOF membranes could aid in guiding the uniformity of Li ion plating, suppressing the growth of Li dendrites. More importantly, the applications of MOF-based membranes in Li–metal battery and Li-ion battery systems were also overviewed by collecting state-of-art research results. When the MOF-based membranes were used as separators, they can not only successfully restrain the adverse shuttling of electrochemical intermediate products for achieving long cycle life Li–S batteries, but can also be used to develop dual-mediator strategies for superior electrochemical performance Li–O₂ batteries and hybrid electrolyte systems for high voltage Li-ion batteries. In addition, based on the obtained progress in rechargeable lithium batteries, the potential of MOF-based membranes serving as ionic sieves in Na–metal batteries, organic redox flow batteries and liquid-anode batteries was rationally proposed. Finally, several suggestions in regard to constructing reliable batteries with MOF membranes were provided from the perspective of practical applications.

Seawater electrolysis is a viable method for producing hydrogen on a large scale and low-cost. However, the catalyst activity during the seawater splitting process will dramatically degrade as salt concentrations increasing. Herein, CoP is discovered that could reject chloride ions far from catalyst in electrolyte based on molecular dynamic simulation. Thus, a binder-free electrode is designed and constructed by in-situ growth of homogeneous CoP on rGO nanosheets wrapped around the surface of Ti fiber felt for seawater splitting. As expected, the as-obtained CoP/rGO@Ti electrode exhibits good catalytic activity and stability in alkaline electrolyte. Especially, benefitting from the highly effective repulsive Cl⁻ intrinsic characteristic of CoP, the catalyst maintains good catalytic performance with saturated salt concentration, and the overpotential increasing is less than 28 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² from 0 M to saturated NaCl in electrolyte. Furthermore, the catalyst for seawater splitting performs superior corrosion-resistance with a low solubility of 0.04%. This work sheds fresh light into the development of efficient HER catalysts for salinity tolerance hydrogen evolution.

Various efficient strategies for prolonging the cycle life of lithium–sulfur batteries.

A functional separator is designed by combining MXene quantum dots with g-C₃N₄ sheets to regulate the kinetic behavior of polysulfides via capture–confinement–conversion.

Recent advances in the development of the multi-functional separators for lithium–sulfur batteries.