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Topic · Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion is a research topic within Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment. Science Explorer counts 89k research works in it since 1950. 9.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on advances in electrocatalysis for energy conversion, with a particular emphasis on oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution reactions. The research covers various catalysts, nanomaterials, and methodologies for improving the efficiency and sustainability of energy conversion processes, such as water splitting and fuel cells.

  • Electrocatalysis
  • Energy Conversion
  • Oxygen Reduction
  • Hydrogen Evolution
  • Catalysts
  • Water Splitting
  • Nanomaterials
  • Fuel Cells
  • Metal-Organic Frameworks
  • Sustainable Energy
Research works
89k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+48%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
66% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Which countries lead Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (18k and 2.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 18k works
  2. 2 United States 2.1k works
  3. 3 India 1.9k works
  4. 4 South Korea 1.6k works
  5. 5 Germany 947 works
  6. 6 Japan 777 works
  7. 7 France 502 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 454 works
  9. 9 Australia 434 works
  10. 10 Taiwan 383 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: 66.4%United States: 7.7%India: 7.0%South Korea: 5.8%6 others listed: 13.0%66%largest
China18k · 66.4%United States2,059 · 7.7%India1,874 · 7.0%South Korea1,568 · 5.8%6 others listed3,497 · 13.0%

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

Which institutions lead Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Tianjin University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 1.3k works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 270 works
  3. 3 Tianjin UniversityChina 264 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 236 works
  5. 5 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 228 works
  6. 6 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 227 works
  7. 7 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 227 works
  8. 8 Jilin UniversityChina 213 works
  9. 9 Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 208 works
  10. 10 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 196 works

Who are the leading researchers in Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion include Zhong Lin Wang, Michaël Grätzel and John P. Perdew.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  3. 3 John P. Perdew United States 436k citations
  4. 4 Georg Kresse Austria 431k citations
  5. 5 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  6. 6 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  7. 7 Yury G. Gogotsi United States 313k citations
  8. 8 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  9. 9 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  10. 10 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k 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 Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion?

The most cited paper in Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion is "Origin of the Overpotential for Oxygen Reduction at a Fuel-Cell Cathode" (Jens K. Nørskov, Jan Rossmeisl, Áshildur Logadóttir et al., 2004), with 13,232 citations. Next come "Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design" (12,130) and "Solar Water Splitting Cells" (9,370).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Origin of the Overpotential for Oxygen Reduction at a Fuel-Cell Cathode Jens K. Nørskov, Jan Rossmeisl, Áshildur Logadóttir et al. · The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 22 Oct 2004 13,232
2 Combining theory and experiment in electrocatalysis: Insights into materials design Zhi Wei Seh, Jakob Kibsgaard, Colin F. Dickens et al. · Science Open access 12 Jan 2017 12,130
3 Solar Water Splitting Cells Michael G. Walter, Emily L. Warren, James R. McKone et al. · Chemical Reviews ReviewOpen access 10 Nov 2010 9,370
4 Materials for fuel-cell technologies Brian C. H. Steele, Angelika Heinzel · Nature Nov 2001 7,775
5 Single-atom catalysis of CO oxidation using Pt1/FeOx Botao Qiao, Aiqin Wang, Xiaofeng Yang et al. · Nature Chemistry 21 Jul 2011 7,507
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research done?

The largest centres of Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Tianjin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Mohali, Mülheim and Siping.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 2.4k works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 1.1k works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 747 works
  4. 4 TianjinChina 730 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 706 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 676 works
  7. 7 SeoulSouth Korea 631 works
  8. 8 QingdaoChina 604 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 564 works
  10. 10 HangzhouChina 530 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Mohali22.2 works27×
  2. MülheimDE · 32.1 works20×
  3. SipingCN · 34.1 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion than the world average.

See Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion on the map

Where is the best place to study Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion?

Among universities, judged by research, City University of Hong Kong, The University of Adelaide and University of Science and Technology of China 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%20%40%mean 18.19%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →The University of Ad…City University of H…Tsinghua UniversityUniversity of Scienc…
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
1City University of Hong KongChina 73.422.0%6.7×105 +137.3%
2The University of AdelaideAustralia 72.929.4%4.0×46 +85.1%
3University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 71.017.2%7.0×227 +62.0%
4Tsinghua UniversityChina 68.818.2%3.7×236 +40.4%
5Nankai UniversityChina 67.419.1%8.1×152 +57.5%
6Tianjin UniversityChina 66.512.8%7.9×264 +18.1%
7Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 66.513.3%19.3×228 +39.2%
8Hunan UniversityChina 65.818.6%6.8×132 +37.9%
9University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 64.916.6%4.2×188 +44.2%
10Jilin UniversityChina 64.314.7%6.8×213 +51.1%

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 Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion, country by country

Is Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 48% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion.

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 Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.13% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion0.13% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion 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%Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion9.5% 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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