Advances of rare earth-based catalysts for recycling CO₂ and plastic waste

The crisis caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels-emissions of billions of tonnes of CO₂ and the accumulation of plastic waste-is imminent. Conventional disposal technologies, such as physical storage, face risks of leakage, capacity limitations, and secondary pollution (such as microplastics). In contrast, chemical recycling, especially thermal catalytic technology, is considered a key alternative solution due to its high resource recovery potential. However, its large-scale implementation remains hindered by the absence of efficient and durable catalysts. Rare earth-based catalysts, with their unique 4f/5d electronic structure and tunable coordination environments, demonstrate significant advantages in activating inert C-C/C-H bonds, promoting CO₂ adsorption and conversion, inhibiting coking and deactivation, and making them highly competitive for CO₂ hydrogenation and plastic catalytic conversion. Despite rapid progress, challenges related to cost, long-term stability, and mechanistic understanding persist, impeding their industrial application. This review systematically summarises the controlled synthesis and in situ characterisation methods of rare earth-based catalysts and thoroughly explores their applications, performance regulation mechanisms, and challenges in CO₂ hydrogenation and plastic recycling, aiming to provide insights for designing efficient, stable, and industrially scalable rare earth catalytic systems.