Hydrogen fuel cells are widely recognized as a clean and high-efficiency alternative to fossil energy, but commercial deployment remains restricted by the cost and scarcity of platinum-group catalysts. The reviewed work presents nickel-based catalysts as a promising non-noble solution for the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), summarizing progress in understanding catalytic mechanisms and performance evaluation. It highlights how optimizing hydrogen binding energy, hydroxide adsorption, electronic structures and surface configurations can significantly boost catalytic activity. The authors further classify development paths including alloys, compounds, heterostructures, core–shell systems, doping strategies and supports, offering a roadmap for designing efficient Ni-based HOR catalysts.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are emerging as promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key barrier in clean hydrogen production. However, their catalytic performance has long been restricted by limited active sites, sluggish electron transfer, and structural instability under operational conditions. A new review summarizes how electronic defect engineering, including vacancy creation, heteroatom doping, single-atom incorporation and lattice modulation, which reconfigures electron distribution, enhances active site exposure, accelerates reaction kinetics, and strengthens catalytic durability. The work highlights strategies that effectively lower OER overpotential and improve stability by tuning LDH atomic coordination environments, providing a unified framework for the design of next-generation high-performance water-splitting catalysts.