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As a clean, efficient, and sustainable energy, hydrogen is expected to replace traditional fossil energy. A series of studies focusing on morphology regulation, surface modification, and structural reconstruction have been devoted to improving the intrinsic catalytic activity of non-noble metal catalysts. However, complex system structure design and the mutual interference of various chemical components would hinder the further improvement of hydrogen evolution performance. In recent years, external field assisted hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has become a new research hotspot. Herein, we systematically summarize the promoting effects of various external fields on catalytic hydrogen production from the aspects of system design and catalytic mechanism, including electric field, thermal field, optical field, magnetic field, and acoustic field. Ultimately, we discuss the key challenges facing this external field regulation strategy and put forward the prospect of future research topics. We sincerely expect that this review could not only provide a new insight into the basic mechanism of external-assisted catalysis, but also promote further research on improving HER performance from a more diverse and comprehensive perspective.
Li et al. (2023) studied this question.