Fabrication of regular UiO-66(Ce) nanocubes and their electrochemical catalysis performance

• Directly adjusting detailed synthesis parameters for UiO-66(Ce) nanocubes, including solvent concentration and reaction time. • Comprehensively investigated the crystal growth mechanism of UiO-66(Ce) through the microstructure characterization . • Desirable electrocatalytic performance with HER activity in alkaline electrolyte . Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), characterized with highly ordered porous structures and relatively high surface area, exhibit significant application potential in the field of electrochemistry catalysis. In this study, we successfully prepared UiO-66(Ce) particles with uniform nanocube morphology and the size distribution ranging from 90 to 156 nm. Both morphology and size can be precisely tuned by directly adjusting detailed synthesis parameters, including solvent concentration and reaction time. Moreover, the crystal growth mechanism of UiO-66(Ce) was comprehensively investigated through the microstructure characterization. Such uniform particles demonstrated a desirable electrocatalytic performance with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) overpotential of 118.6 mV (at 10 mA cm −2 ) in alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH). This study not only introduces a novel approach for the morphological manipulation of UiO-66(Ce), but also presents new material candidates for the advancement of high-performance electrochemical energy conversion systems.