Analysis of Boron-Based and Rare-Earth-Based Additive Strategies in Advanced Oxide Materials in Terms of Structural–Morphological Performance and Critical Raw Material Policies

In advanced oxide materials, additive selection is increasingly constrained by the simultaneous requirements of functional response, phase stability, morphology control, processing tolerance, scalability, and critical raw material security. This study develops a ZnO-centered framework to compare boron-based strategies (direct B doping, B4C/ZnO composite formation, and h-BN/ZnO interface engineering) with rare-earth strategies (Ce/CeO2, La/La2O3, and Y/Y2O3). Structural, morphological, chemical-state, and vibrational evidence from XRD, FE-SEM/EDX, XPS, Raman, and FT-IR studies is interpreted through an evidence hierarchy that separates lattice incorporation, surface/grain-boundary segregation, and deliberate secondary-phase or heterointerface formation. The synthesis shows that boron-containing routes usually provide broader phase retention, lower agglomeration tendency, more gradual defect modulation, and greater processing robustness, whereas rare-earth routes offer stronger oxygen-vacancy regulation, redox activity, luminescence tuning, and heterojunction-assisted function but require tighter process control and more rigorous verification of incorporation mode. Reanalysis of seven primary experimental pathways indicates that B4C/ZnO and h-BN/ZnO are mechanistically non-equivalent: B4C supports rigid composite-interface growth, while h-BN promotes sheet-mediated interface multiplication and Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars polarization. Türkiye is treated as an illustrative boron-rich producer case within a transferable producer/importer decision model. Dopant selection is therefore framed as a multi-criteria decision involving performance thresholds, reproducibility, technology-readiness potential, and supply-security exposure, not peak output alone.