The development and utilization of clean and renewable energy are significantly important to address the problem of environmental pollution and energy shortage. Hydrogen has been regarded as the most promising energy carrier due to its high energy density and environmental friendliness. Electrochemical water splitting provides an eco-friendly and sustainable way to produce hydrogen fuel. Therefore, highly efficient electrocatalysts are needed to be exploited for electrochemical water splitting to improve hydrogen production efficiency. Many transition metal-based electrocatalysts, abundant in nature and low cost, have gradually become the focus of research in recent years. Among them, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal-based electrocatalysts are of particular interest as they have the advantages of fast electron/proton transfer and abundant surface catalytic active sites. In this work, 2D transition metal-based electrocatalysts such as 2D transition metal oxide hydroxide, 2D transition metal phosphide, 2D transition metal carbides, etc., and their applications in water splitting are systematically reviewed.
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