Status of rare-earth perovskite catalysts in environmental applications

Rare-earth perovskite oxides have become a research hotspot in the fields of environment and energy owing to their structural tunability, excellent redox properties, high stability and high catalytic activity. Researchers have designed and developed different rare-earth perovskite catalysts for tackling environmental pollutants in recent years. This review summarizes recent research progress on rare-earth perovskite catalysts in the catalytic oxidation and photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, gas sensing of volatile organic compounds and photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production and carbon dioxide reduction and conversion, and summarizes the mechanism of these reactions. It also discusses in detail the relationship between structural modification, synthesis process and the physical-chemical properties of the catalysts. Finally, the challenges with rare-earth chalcocite catalysts in the field of environment and energy are discussed. This paper reviews recent progress in rare-earth perovskite oxide materials, explores the effects of capacity factors, lattice defects, different metal active centers and perovskite modifications on crystal structure and applied properties, discusses the effects of synthesis processes (sol-gel, co-precipitation, microemulsion, hydrothermal, high-temperature) on their physical and chemical properties, and summarizes their applications in pollutant catalytic oxidation and photocatalytic degradation, VOCs gas sensing, and photocatalytic splitting of water for hydrogen production and carbon dioxide reduction and conversion. (Image credit: P. Li.)