Electrochemical water splitting in alkaline media provides a promising pathway for sustainable hydrogen production that is enssential for a future hydrogen economy. However, the slow reaction rate of hydrogen reaction in alkaline media, and unfavorable kinetics for oxygen evolution reaction have hindered the progress of water splitting technologies for clean hydrogen production. Considering the high price and scarce storage of noble metals which are known as the most effective catalysts for water splitting, it is urgently required to develop non-noble metals based alternatives with highly intrinsic acivity, low price and high tolerance to increase electrocatalytic efficiency and reduce the reaction overpotential from an economic perspective. In this review, we summarize recent research efforts in exploiting advanced transition metal based electrocatalysts with outstanding performance for water splitting catalysis, mainly including transition-metal-based chalcogenides, phosphides, nitrides and carbides as well as single atom catalysts. First, we give a simple description of water splitting mechanism in alkaline media. Then we discuss the promising structural design of transition metal based electrocatalysts for enhancing water splitting, and disclose the underlying relationship between structure and electrocatalytic performance for water splitting with assistance of theoretical simulation. Finally, we provide our personal perspective to highlight the challenges and propose the opportunities for developing transition metal based electrocatalysts for water splitting in alkaline solution.

在碱性介质中进行电化学水分解可为可持续制氢提供有希望的途径，这对未来的氢气经济至关重要。但是，碱性介质中氢反应的反应速度较慢，而析氧反应的动力学较差阻碍了用于清洁氢气生产的水分解技术的进步。考虑到贵金属的高价位和稀缺的储存（被称为最有效的水分解催化剂），迫切需要开发具有高本征活性，低价格和高耐受性的非贵金属基替代品，以提高电催化效率并降低从经济角度看，这种反应潜力过大。在这篇综述中，我们总结了最近在开发具有优异的水分解催化性能的高级过渡金属基电催化剂方面的研究成果，主要包括过渡金属基硫族化物，磷化物，氮化物和碳化物以及单原子催化剂。首先，我们简单描述碱性介质中的水分解机理。然后，我们讨论了用于增强水分解的过渡金属基电催化剂的有前途的结构设计，并借助理论模拟揭示了结构与水分解电催化性能之间的潜在关系。最后，我们提供个人观点，以突出挑战并提出开发用于碱性溶液中水分解的过渡金属基电催化剂的机会。