<p>Global warming, non-renewable energy sources and rising energy demands require researchers to search alternative clean energy sources. At present, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have become popular electrocatalysts with enhancing conductivity, high surface area and evenly dispersed active sites for effective application of water splitting. In our work, we anchored an iron–zinc MOF onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through a hydrothermal method, employing 2‑aminoterephthalic acid (NH₂BDC) as the organic linker. By varying the CNTs percentage to 5, 10 and 15 wt % we synthesized a series of composites and thoroughly investigated their phase purity, surface chemistry, morphology, and porosity using X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer-Emmette-Teller (BET) analysis. The sample with 10 wt % CNTs stood out with low overpotential 280 mV to drive oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and − 236 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at a current density of 10&#xa0;mA cm^− 2 while its Tafel slopes of 106 mV dec^− 1 (OER) and 36.6 mV dec^− 1 (HER) confirmed its rapid reaction kinetics. The superior performance arises from the strong MOF-CNT synergy which improves electron transport and increases accessible active sites, offering a clear advantage over pristine MOFs. However the catalyst still faces limitations such as moderate long-term durability and the need for improved scalability of the synthesis process. Compared with state-of-the-art noble-metal catalysts such as Pt for HER and RuO₂/IrO₂ for OER, the FeZnNH₂BDC@10 wt% CNT composite delivers competitive activity while relying on earth-abundant and low-cost materials, demonstrating its potential as a viable and sustainable catalyst for overall water splitting.</p>