Investigation of recent progress in metal-based materials as catalysts toward electrochemical water splitting

Hydrogen production from electrocatalytic water splitting is one way to tackle the rise of the energy crisis, but it still requires cost-effective, high stable, and high-performance materials to produce hydrogen on a large scale. So far, hydrogen as alternative resource to address energy issue in world is under progress and several attempts have been made to further improve it. Transition metal-based materials have been documented as promising catalysts due to their high electrocatalytic activity, structural tunability, high electrochemical surface area, high conductivity, and high stability under harsh conditions. However, the main challenge of electrocatalytic production of hydrogen through water splitting is in the development of cost-effective earth-abundant catalysts to enable their industrial-scale deployment. In this review work, the authors represent the most key factors in an electrocatalyst performance analysis and a comprehensive review of the most recent development on various material preparation for synthesizing non-precious or precious metal-based electrocatalysts to dissociate water electrochemically into hydrogen and oxygen. The correlation between catalyst structure and related activity for the improved electrocatalytic reaction is discussed. Also, doping with adatoms, composition with other transition metals for synergy effects, and downsizing nanostructure of corresponding materials are reviewed. Finally, existing challenges and bright prospective paths for catalyst designing and synthesizing methods of catalysts for electrochemical water splitting are discussed.