Design and Modification of Layered Double Hydroxides-Based Compounds in Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: a Review

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) exhibit great potential in electrocatalytic water splitting due to the unique 2D feature and an adjustable structure composed of different metal centers. In addition, LDHs have the advantage of being inherently inexpensive compared to other catalysts and have good stability in electrocatalytic water splitting. Up to now, numerous methods have been put forward to improve the activity of LDHs in electrocatalytic water splitting, a comprehensive introduction and comb to the fabrication methods and modification strategies is helpful for the followers to get a clear vein to carry out efficient manipulation to the development of high promising LDHs catalysts. In this review, the basic principles of water electrolysis, and the evaluation indexes are introduced first, and then the basic properties and commonly utilized methods in the fabrication of LDHs are introduced. After that, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and overall water splitting (OWS) performance of different LDHs-based catalysts and analyze the merits and shortcomings of LDHs in electrocatalytic water splitting is compared. Based on this, the advanced strategies for improving the performance of LDHs is introduced and give a brief prospect for the development of LDHs-based materials in electrocatalysis.