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Topic · Mechanics of Materials

Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions

Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions is a research topic within Mechanics of Materials. Science Explorer counts 38k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the mechanics of gecko foot adhesion, including the study of van der Waals forces, surface roughness, contact mechanics, and the development of biomimetic adhesives. It explores the nanoscale structures, frictional properties, and hierarchical designs inspired by gecko feet for potential applications in various fields.

  • Gecko
  • Adhesion
  • Friction
  • Contact Mechanics
  • Biomimetic
  • Nanotubes
  • Surface Roughness
  • Elastic-Plastic Contact Analysis
  • Microstructures
  • Bioinspired
Research works
38k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
51% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions

Which countries lead Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.3k and 580 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.3k works
  2. 2 United States 580 works
  3. 3 Germany 331 works
  4. 4 Japan 278 works
  5. 5 India 254 works
  6. 6 France 191 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 185 works
  8. 8 South Korea 138 works
  9. 9 Italy 129 works
  10. 10 Russia 126 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 51.3%United States: 12.8%Germany: 7.3%Japan: 6.1%6 others listed: 22.5%51%largest
China2,332 · 51.3%United States580 · 12.8%Germany331 · 7.3%Japan278 · 6.1%6 others listed1,024 · 22.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Xi'an Jiaotong University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 122 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 83 works
  3. 3 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 75 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 63 works
  5. 5 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 51 works
  6. 6 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 49 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 47 works
  8. 8 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 46 works
  9. 9 Chongqing UniversityChina 44 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 42 works

Who are the leading researchers in Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions include Zhong Lin Wang, Róbert Langer and George M. Whitesides.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  3. 3 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  4. 4 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  5. 5 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  6. 6 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  7. 7 Lei Jiang China 214k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions?

The most cited paper in Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions is "Verwendung von Schwingquarzen zur W�gung d�nner Schichten und zur Mikrow�gung" (G. Sauerbrey, 1959), with 9,643 citations. Next come "Surface energy and the contact of elastic solids" (8,054) and "The Friction and Lubrication of Solids" (5,931).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Verwendung von Schwingquarzen zur W�gung d�nner Schichten und zur Mikrow�gung G. Sauerbrey · The European Physical Journal A Apr 1959 9,643
2 Surface energy and the contact of elastic solids Kenneth Langstreth Johnson, Kevin Kendall, A. D. Roberts · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences 8 Sep 1971 8,054
3 The Friction and Lubrication of Solids Frank Philip Bowden, D. Tabor, Frederic Palmer · American Journal of Physics Oct 1951 5,931
4 Super‐Hydrophobic Surfaces: From Natural to Artificial Libang Feng, Shuhui Li, Yuanxin Li et al. · Advanced Materials 17 Dec 2002 4,413
5 Bioinspired self-repairing slippery surfaces with pressure-stable omniphobicity Tak‐Sing Wong, Sung Hoon Kang, Sindy K. Y. Tang et al. · Nature Open access Sep 2011 4,158
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research done?

The largest centres of Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 389 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 170 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 141 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 128 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 92 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 91 works
  7. 7 HarbinChina 88 works
  8. 8 TokyoJapan 85 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 76 works
  10. 10 TianjinChina 69 works
See Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions on the map

Where is the best place to study Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Southwest Jiaotong University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 19.86%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Chines…Tsinghua UniversityXi'an Jiaotong Unive…Southwest Jiaotong U…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 75.816.8%9.0×75 +25.9%
2Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 71.016.3%12.6×46 +58.4%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 69.124.2%2.6×20 +36.0%
4Tsinghua UniversityChina 67.717.4%5.7×63 +2.8%
5Central South UniversityChina 67.426.7%2.8×26 +78.5%
6Jilin UniversityChina 67.021.8%5.4×30 +15.8%
7Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 64.019.6%5.6×32 +41.8%
8Shandong UniversityChina 63.321.8%2.9×18 +24.4%
9Northeastern UniversityChina 63.020.2%6.1×26 +50.5%
10Chongqing UniversityChina 62.313.8%8.4×44 +14.0%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions, country by country

Is Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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