Water-splitting via electrocatalysis is a potential and sustainable avenue to produce hydrogen. Its effectiveness depends largely on the performance capabilities of the electrode materials. Innovative electrode materials have the potential to greatly enhance kinetics to hydrogen and oxygen evolutions, diminish overpotentials, enhance life expectancy, all of which make it easier to determine the inefficiency of water-splitting approaches. Recently, metal-oxides, sulfides, phosphides, and nitrides-based catalysts have attracted attention and acted as economically feasible alternatives compared to the extensively used platinum and iridium metals in oxygen and hydrogen evolutions (Seh et al., 2017). An ideal example is the excellent performance of OER by nickel-iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe LDHs), derived from an abundant active site and good electronic design. Ultimately, allowing for lower onset potential and faster charge transfer distribution (Louie & Bell, 2013).

The electrode material's nanostructuring further increases catalytic performance by making more active sites available and increasing the surface area. All these aspects make it easier for mass transfer and electron transport. Molybdenum di-surface sulfide nanosheets adopted for HER have recorded a desirable performance based on a favorable energy of hydrogen. Consequently, allowing it to release more edge sites and an enzymatic edge (Voiry et al., 2013). The catalysis electronic properties can get optimized by introducing dopants of heteroatoms and a higher surface of defects. A good example is the better performance of the HER and the OER by carbon-based materials doping them with sulfur, phosphorus, and nitrogen because they enhance the conducting features and the stability (Jiao et al., 2015). A higher surface of defects and the conductivity of oxide metal can be enhanced through the introduction of the oxygen defect (Zhang et al., 2016).

The hybrid materials, metals, and conducting supports composites help their impact with stability and facilitate charge regard for metal degradation during long electrolysis periods (Zhao et al., 2019). Ultimately, it will address the critical challenge affecting industrial application. Ultimately, the technologic advancements made in hybrid composites, heteroatoms doping materials, nanostructuring, and transition metals are making the water-splitting technology much more efficient. The energy barrier decreases, activation sites are enhanced, and stability improves, all playing a critical role in making sure that adopting to water splitting is much nearer to capable and stable economically efficient hydrogen production.

References:

Jiao, Y., Zheng, Y., Jaroniec, M., & Qiao, S. (2015). Design of electrocatalysts for oxygen- and hydrogen-involving energy conversion reactions. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(8), 2060-2086.

Louie, M. W., & Bell, A. T. (2013). An investigation of thin-film Ni–Fe oxide catalysts for the electrochemical evolution of oxygen. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 135(33), 12329-12337.

Seh, Z. W., Kibsgaard, J., Dickens, C. F., Chorkendorff, I., Nørskov, J. K., & Jaramillo, T. F. (2017). Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design. Science, 355(6321), eaad4998.

Voiry, D., Yamaguchi, H., Li, J., Silva, R., Alves, D. C. B., Fujita, T., Chen, M., Asefa, T., Shenoy, V. B., Eda, G., & Chhowalla, M. (2013). Enhanced catalytic activity in strained chemically exfoliated WS₂ nanosheets for hydrogen evolution. Nature Materials, 12(9), 850-855.

Zhang, J., Zhao, Y., Guo, X., & Zheng, L. (2016). Oxygen vacancies in transition metal oxides: A new perspective on electrocatalysis. Energy & Environmental Science, 9(5), 1531-1543.

Zhao, Y., Shi, R., & Zhan, X. (2019). Carbon-based electrocatalysts for water splitting: Progress and challenges. Chemical Society Reviews, 48(7), 2206-2244.

The answer to your own question is too oversimplified with outdated references.

Novel electrode materials are revolutionizing the efficiency of electrochemical water-splitting for hydrogen production by addressing key limitations of conventional catalysts. These advanced materials enhance the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) through tailored electronic structures, increased active sites, and improved stability. For the HER, transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS₂), phosphides (Ni₂P), and single-atom catalysts on carbon supports demonstrate near-Pt activity while being cost-effective, with their edge sites and strain-engineered surfaces optimizing hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔG_H* ≈ 0). In OER, layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH), perovskites (LaCoO₃), and amorphous metal oxides outperform traditional IrO₂/RuO₂ by facilitating *OOH intermediate stabilization through modulated 3d-electron configurations and lattice oxygen participation. Heterostructures like CoP/MoS₂ create built-in electric fields that accelerate charge transfer, while defect engineering (e.g., oxygen vacancies in Co₃O₄) creates localized electron-rich regions that lower overpotentials. Conductive substrates such as nickel foam or graphene prevent nanoparticle aggregation, ensuring sustained activity at high current densities (>500 mA/cm²). Recent breakthroughs include dynamically reconstructed interfaces, where pre-catalysts (e.g., sulfides) transform into active (oxy)hydroxides during operation, maintaining low overpotentials (

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"Yet, with the exception of a few reports, water splitting to molecular hydrogen and oxygen has remained elusive. The only reproducible results are those involving other additives to water: electron donors or acceptors yielding either hydrogen or oxygen, but not both."

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2020/cy/c9cy01818b

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343725003392