Work

Layered double hydroxide-based electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrolysis: Advances in material design, mechanistic insights, and practical applications

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Electrochemical water splitting, comprising the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is a promising and sustainable approach for high-purity hydrogen production. Transition metal-based layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have emerged as efficient and tunable electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrolysis, owing to their unique layered structure, compositional flexibility, and low cost. This review presents recent progress in the rational design, mechanistic insight, and application of LDH-based electrocatalysts under alkaline conditions. Advanced synthetic strategies, including plasma-assisted processes, exfoliation, and hydrothermal treatments, are discussed for enhancing active site accessibility, conductivity, and long-term durability. Key performance enhancing strategies such as morphology control, elemental doping, defect engineering, interlayer modulation, and nanostructuring are systematically evaluated. The integration of LDHs with conductive substrates and the development of bifunctional catalysts for both HER and OER are also emphasized for overall water-splitting efficiency. Mechanistic understanding is further supported by in situ/operando spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, machine learning, providing atomic-level insights into active sites and reaction pathways. This review consolidates the current understanding of LDH-based electrocatalysis and highlights its contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 13: Climate Action, by enabling efficient, renewable hydrogen generation. The insights offered serve as a roadmap for advancing LDH-based materials toward scalable electrolyzer technologies.

Source: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.157101