Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important class of air pollutants. Catalytic oxidation technology can convert VOCs into non-toxic CO2 and H2O

which is one of the effective treatment methods. In consideration with the high energy consumption of the traditional thermal catalysis and the low efficiency of the photocatalysis during the purification of VOCs

the coupling of photo catalysis and thermal catalysis for VOCs purification has received intense attention. The superior VOCs degradation performance by photo-thermal synergistic catalysis over the single thermal catalytic or photo catalytic process has been demonstrated. This work reviews the latest progress in the field of catalytic VOCs oxidation by photo-thermal synergistic catalysis with a special attention to the understanding of the synergetic mechanism and design of photo-thermal catalytic materials

including noble metal based and metal oxides based catalysts. Finally

future perspectives of photo-thermal catalytic technology for environmental application are provided.