The phrase "a potential substitute for" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing alternatives or replacements for a particular item, concept, or method.
Example: "This new ingredient could serve as a potential substitute for sugar in the recipe."
Alternatives: "an alternative to" or "a possible replacement for".
There is certainly nothing today that will be seen as a potential substitute for the monetary tightening that is coming.
In operations requiring 1.5 to 1.8 volts, these batteries are a potential substitute for some zinc silver oxide batteries.
The governor wants to shut down the Indian Point nuclear reactor north of New York City and sees the cable as a potential substitute for some of the electricity that would be lost, said people who have been briefed on the negotiations.
Online education is more clearly a potential substitute for, rather than complement to, traditional education.It is easy to get caught up in techno-utopian talk about the potential of online education, and similarly easy to dwell on how poor a substitute online learning is for the "traditional" college experience (the value of which graduates seem to inflate the deeper into the past it recedes).
As a potential substitute for the carbon fiber, black poplar wood trim will also be available.
The PEU can be used as a potential substitute for some petroleum-based thermoplastics.
Ethanol is a potential substitute of gasoline as fuel for vehicles.
Our results suggested that α-ZAL can be used as a potential substitute of 17β-E2 in postmenopausal women for Alzheimer's disease prevention.
This paper presents the behavior of a potential substitute catalyst tested for the deep HDS of a model molecule such as the dibenzothiophene (DBT).
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing awareness and acceptance of biofuels as a viable potential substitute for petroleum.
Further, similar pattern of methylation for both MGMT and p16 genes in tissue and blood samples of premalignant oral lesions and OSCC suggests use of blood as a potential substitute to tissue samples for screening or diagnosing precancer and early malignancy.
