ABSTRACT
Water electrolysis, especially the one in alkaline liquid electrolyte, offers an attractive strategy for hydrogen production as well as plays key role in many industrial energy conversion processes, such as chlor-alkali electrolyzer, water-alkali electrolyzer, and metal-O2 batteries. In this chapter, the working principles of water electrolysis in alkaline electrolyte, recent progress on several kinds of crucial catalysts for cathode hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the related cell components have been introduced and summarized. Especially, the specific discussions from the aspects of HER and OER electrocatalysts design and the enhancement of catalytic stability have been presented. Perspectives of some directions for the future research are put forward as well. It is expected that this chapter will provide a better understanding of water electrolysis in alkaline liquid electrolyte for the general readers, and gives a guidance for the further study in energy conversion fields.
