Photocathodes play a vital role in photoelectrocatalytic water splitting by acting as catalysts for reducing protons to hydrogen gas when exposed to light. Recent advancements in photocathodes have focused on addressing the limitations of noble metal-based materials. These noble metal-based photocathodes rely on expensive and scarce metals such as platinum and gold as cocatalysts or ohmic back contacts, respectively, rendering the final system less sustainable and costly when applied at scale. This mini-review summarizes the important recent progress in the development of non-noble metal-based photocathodes and their performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction during photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. These advancements bring non-noble metal-based photocathodes closer to their noble metal-based counterparts in terms of performance, thereby paving the way forward toward industrial-scale photoelectrolyzers or PEC cells for green hydrogen production.

光电阴极在光电催化水分解中发挥着至关重要的作用，在光照下充当将质子还原为氢气的催化剂。光电阴极的最新进展集中在解决贵金属基材料的局限性。这些基于贵金属的光电阴极分别依赖于昂贵且稀有的金属（例如铂和金）作为助催化剂或欧姆背接触，使得最终系统在大规模应用时可持续性较差且成本高昂。这篇小综述总结了非贵金属基光电阴极发展的重要最新进展及其在光电化学（PEC）水分解过程中析氢反应中的性能。这些进步使非贵金属光电阴极在性能方面更接近贵金属光电阴极，从而为工业规模的光电解槽或用于绿色氢气生产的PEC电池铺平了道路。