  Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a specific class of hybrid, crystalline,
nano-porous materials made of metal-ion-based nodes and organic linkers. Most
of the studies on MOFs largely focused on porosity, chemical and structural
diversity, gas sorption, sensing, drug delivery, catalysis, and separation
applications. In contrast, much less reports paid attention to understanding
and tuning the electrical properties of MOFs. Poor electrical conductivity of
MOFs reported in earlier studies, impeded their applications in electronics,
optoelectronics, and renewable energy storage. To overcome this drawback, the
MOF community has adopted several intriguing strategies for electronic
applications. The present review focuses on creatively designed bulk MOFs and
surface-anchored MOFs (SURMOFs) with different metal nodes (from transition
metals to lanthanides), ligand functionalities, and doping entities, allowing
tuning and enhancement of electrical conductivity. Diverse platforms for
MOFs-based electronic device fabrications, conductivity measurements, and
underlying charge transport mechanisms are also addressed. Overall, the review
highlights the pros and cons of MOFs-based electronics, followed by an analysis
of the future directions of research, including optimization of the MOF
compositions, heterostructures, electrical contacts, device stacking, and
further relevant options which can be of interest for MOF researchers and
result in improved devices performance.
