Cerium phosphate hybrid nanocomposites for photoelectrocatalytic environmental remediation and energy sustainability

Highly acidic nature, tunable redox behavior, and exceptional electronic structure of CePO 4 were exploited in photoelectrocatalysis processes. CePO 4 integrated hybrid composites including metallic-non-metallic ions and plasmonic NPs, metal oxides, carbonaceous materials (GO, g-C 3 N 4 ), and metal phosphides (CoP 2 , MoP, etc) have been discussed. A comparative analysis was presented to demonstrate the influence of CePO 4 integration with narrow bandgap materials, which significantly improves the photoelectrocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, photoconversion of CO 2 , and electrocatalytic H 2 evolution reaction (HER), O 2 evolution reaction (OER), N 2 fixation, and other electrocatalytic processes. CePO 4 NCs under photo-driven energy promote environmentally friendly energy generation, CO 2 reduction, breakdown of dyes, herbicides, antibiotics, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and hydrocarbons. Along with new approaches like O 2 vacancy engineering, dopant modification, Z -scheme heterojunctions (HJs), and plasmon-induced catalysis for working around these restrictions, important issues like restricted visible-light absorption, charge recombination degradation, and catalyst stability are also covered. This overview highlights the potential of CePO 4 − derived hybrid catalysts to tackle global issues in carbon capture, renewable energy generation, and water purification by analyzing the most recent developments in this field. Doping engineering and formation of the hybrid junction with carbonaceous materials could be a turning point to greatly improve the photocatalytic performance for future-oriented environmentally friendly energy and ecological applications, which provides insights into innovative material design techniques and scalable implementation in practical applications. • Robust photoelectrocatalytic activity of CePO 4 -derived hybrid nanocomposites. • Importance of heterojunctions in the enhancement of light absorption, charge transfer, and active sites. • Applications of pollutant degradation, CO 2 conversion, and H 2 /O 2 evolution reactions. • Impact of morphology, crystal defect/ doping engineering, and crystal facets tuning. • Current challenges, influencing factors, and insights into future scalable and eco-friendly solutions.