Electrochemical transformation emerges as an important solution to sustainable energy conversion and chemical production. Conventional electrolytic systems usually operate under galvanostatic or potentiostatic conditions that sometimes result in unsatisfactory efficiencies or selectivities. Pulse electrolysis by pulsating and programming the potentials/currents can feature unique tunability to the electrode-electrolyte interface properties that can give rise to drastically different electrochemical behaviors compared to the steady-state counterparts. Although invented almost 100 years ago, pulse electrolysis has received little attention over the period, but has recently attracted a revived focus toward the energy-efficient electrolysis. This review will summarize the history and recent efforts of pulse electrolysis in three categories: water electrolysis, CO₂ electrolysis and other electrolysis. In each section, the advantage of pulse electrolysis over steady-state electrolysis will be discussed in detail, giving a comprehensive overview of the pulse effect on the electrolytic systems. Finally, we will provide our vision of future directions in pulse electrolysis based on previous works.

电化学转化成为可持续能源转换和化学生产的重要解决方案。常规的电解系统通常在恒电流或恒电位条件下运行，有时会导致效率或选择性不令人满意。通过对电位/电流进行脉动和编程来进行脉冲电解，可以使电极-电解质界面特性具有独特的可调谐性，与稳态对应物相比，可以引起截然不同的电化学行为。尽管脉冲电解是在大约100年前发明的，但在此期间却很少受到关注，但是最近吸引了人们对节能电解的关注。这篇综述将在三个方面总结脉冲电解的历史和最近的努力：₂电解及其他电解。在每个部分中，将详细讨论脉冲电解相对于稳态电解的优势，并全面概述了脉冲对电解系统的影响。最后，我们将基于先前的工作提供对脉冲电解未来方向的展望。