Coordination-directed design of MOF-derived supercapacitor electrodes: From precursor coordination environment to structure-property-performance relationship

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) serve their most effective role in supercapacitor electrode development not primarily as direct electrode materials, but as coordination-defined precursors for electrochemically active derivatives. The coordination environment of the parent MOF, including metal identity, oxidation state, coordination geometry, linker donor character, framework connectivity, and heteroatom content, governs phase evolution, carbon retention, defect formation, heterointerface construction, and redox-site accessibility during derivation. These precursor-level factors explain a recurring but insufficiently resolved observation in the field: nominally similar derivative phases obtained from chemically distinct MOF precursors often display markedly different conductivity, ion-transport behaviour, rate capability, and cycling stability. This review develops a coordination-chemistry-centred structure-property-performance framework across six major MOF-derived electrode families, including phosphides, oxides, sulphides, selenides, porous carbons, and layered double hydroxides. The analysis establishes that precursor coordination descriptors, rather than derivative composition alone, regulate reconstruction behaviour, carbon-phase formation, defect density, and interfacial coupling during conversion. These structural and chemical outcomes collectively determine electronic transport, ion-accessible porosity, redox-site utilization, and durability under repeated cycling. Three cross-class conclusions are highlighted. First, high-performance MOF-derived electrodes require the balanced integration of electronic percolation, hierarchical ion transport, accessible redox sites, and structural robustness, rather than the maximization of a single material property. Second, half-cell capacitance values can overstate practical performance when electric double-layer, pseudocapacitive, and battery-type contributions are not clearly distinguished. Third, precursor coordination chemistry strongly constrains the attainable performance of each derivative family and should therefore guide precursor selection, conversion-route design, and device-level electrode evaluation. This coordination-chemistry-centred framework provides a mechanistic basis for interpreting MOF-derived supercapacitor electrodes beyond conventional material-category or derivation-route classifications.