Generation of Green Fuel Hydrogen through Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Hydrogen is regarded as a promising clean and sustainable energy carrier, as well as an appealing alternative to fossil fuels. Water splitting by electricity is a prospective and low-cost method of producing hydrogen. Generation of hydrogen via water splitting requires the use of an efficient electrocatalyst which lowers the large overpotential of the process and accelerates the hydrogen generation. As a result, there is a lot of interest in developing earth-abundant electrocatalysts with high activity and long-term stability. Various noble metals, transition metals, and metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts have been thoroughly investigated for their catalytic activity. The present chapter mainly discusses the generation of hydrogen fuel via water splitting utilizing different nanostructures as electrocatalysts and the mechanism of hydrogen production has been discussed elaborately. Various strategies adopted to improve the catalytic activity of these electrocatalysts are also discussed.