In order to improve an electrolyser for splitting molecular water into molecular hydrogen and molecular oxygen using electrical energy, which electrolyser comprises an anodic half cell with an anode and a cathodic half cell with a cathode, wherein the anodic half cell and the cathodic half cell are separated from one another by a separator, with the anodic half cell comprising an anodic electrolyte, which is in contact with the anode, and with the cathodic half cell comprising a cathodic electrolyte, which is in contact with the cathode, the anodic half cell comprising an anodic catalyst and the cathodic half cell comprising a cathodic catalyst, according to the invention the cathodic half cell contains at least one cation that can be reduced by electron gain to generate a mediator ion, and the reducible cation and the mediator ion form a redox pair. The invention further relates to an improved method for splitting water into molecular hydrogen and molecular oxygen using electrical energy.
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