Hafiz Adil Qayyum

The structural versatility of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) makes them attractive platforms for electrocatalyst design, but with limited active site density. Here, Fe‐MOF is decorated with Ni‐, Mo‐, and W‐based oxides via electrochemical deposition, avoiding high‐temperature carbonization. The short interlayer distances (1.88–2.67 Å) and more negative binding energies (−4.09 to −4.88 eV) indicate intimate interfacial contact and strong adhesion between the deposited metal oxides and the Fe‐MOF. Synergistic interactions between Ni 3 d and Mo/W non‑3 d orbitals modulate electronic structure and optimize adsorption of reaction intermediates. Electron localization values OER (0.68 V) preferentially adsorbs OH ⁻ over Cl ⁻ (−1.14 and −1.09 eV, respectively), promoting selective OER. The NiW@Fe‐MOF (cathode) exhibits the most favorable Δ G _H * (−1.64 eV) and suppresses Ca(OH) ₂ and Mg(OH) ₂ precipitation via WO ₂ ‐mediated OH ⁻ consumption. Consequently, the NiW@Fe‐MOF‖NiMoW@Fe‐MOF enables selective inhibition of chlorine evolution and mitigation of scaling. The NiW@Fe‐MOF‖NiMoW@Fe‐MOF operates stably in alkaline seawater at 0.5 A cm ⁻² for 500 h and delivers 1 A cm ⁻² at 1.84 V, well below the 2.35 V required by a 20% Pt/C‖RuO ₂ benchmark, demonstrating strong potential for direct seawater splitting.

Hydrogen production from seawater is promising; however, the complex chemistry and corrosive nature of seawater are a huge bottleneck. Therefore, it is imperative to design catalysts that provide highly active and stable catalytic sites for preferential seawater catalysis. Here, we constructed an interface by heterostructuring boron-doped iron disulfide (B-FeS₂) sheets with metal-organic framework (MOF) sheets to achieve higher activity and longer life, confirmed through theoretical and experimental results. B facilitates Ni-S ionic interactions at the heterointerface with a 2.28 Å bond length, which modulates the electronic properties and the surface chemistry. It also yields borate species at the interface, which act as a local OH^- modulator and favor OH^- adsorption. The presence of SO₄^2- ions on the surface works as a repellent to corrosive Cl^- ions. As a result, the heterostructure achieves an anodic current density of 1.5 A/cm² at an overpotential of 628 mV without chlorine-related reaction and remains stable for over 500 h in seawater. Antichlorine and anticorrosion tests further reveal that the catalyst is highly stable and strongly inhibits chlorine chemistry, further supported by theoretical calculations and ex situ materials analysis. Hence, an ideal pathway to realize H₂ production directly from seawater via materials engineering is presented.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with intrinsic antiferromagnetic (AFM) order provide a unique avenue to harness both charge and spin degrees of freedom for practical spintronics applications. Here, by using ab initio electronic structure calculations, the interplay of discrete crystal symmetries (such as inversion (P ), time-reversal (T ), or combined PT symmetry) of 2D semiconducting AFM manganese selenide (MnSe) and external electric field along with graphene proximity is investigated. We show that both an external electric field and graphene proximity can independently break otherwise conserved combined PT symmetry in 2D MnSe, resulting in large and tunable spin-splittings in both valence and conduction bands, and provide electrical control over a wide energy range. We further propose a current-in-plane electronic device consisting of semiconducting 2D MnSe as a channel material and graphene as a metal contact which preserves not only these features but additionally provides a mechanism to further tune metal-semiconductor contact characteristics such as Schottky barrier height leading to an Ohmic contact. Our results provide a comprehensive insight into the electrical control of the charge and spin degrees of freedom in 2D AFM MnSe.