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Topic · Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Fuel Cells and Related Materials

Fuel Cells and Related Materials is a research topic within Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Science Explorer counts 71k 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 advances and challenges in fuel cell membrane technology, including polymer electrolyte membranes, proton exchange membranes, and anion exchange membranes. It covers topics such as fuel cell durability, high-temperature operation, membrane degradation, and applications in hydrogen and direct methanol fuel cells.

  • Polymer Electrolyte Membranes
  • Proton Exchange Membranes
  • Fuel Cell Durability
  • High-Temperature Operation
  • Anion Exchange Membranes
  • Membrane Degradation
  • PEM Fuel Cells
  • Hydrogen Fuel Cells
  • Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
  • Alkaline Fuel Cells
Research works
71k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+34%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
55% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Fuel Cells and Related Materials

Which countries lead Fuel Cells and Related Materials research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (7.6k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 7.6k works
  2. 2 United States 1.6k works
  3. 3 India 910 works
  4. 4 South Korea 883 works
  5. 5 Germany 747 works
  6. 6 Japan 637 works
  7. 7 France 395 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 324 works
  9. 9 Russia 281 works
  10. 10 Italy 278 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: 55.5%United States: 12.0%India: 6.6%South Korea: 6.4%6 others listed: 19.4%55%largest
China7,599 · 55.5%United States1,646 · 12.0%India910 · 6.6%South Korea883 · 6.4%6 others listed2,663 · 19.4%

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

Which institutions lead Fuel Cells and Related Materials research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Fuel Cells and Related Materials research, followed by Tongji University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 480 works
  2. 2 Tongji UniversityChina 201 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 184 works
  4. 4 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 172 works
  5. 5 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 149 works
  6. 6 Tsinghua UniversityChina 142 works
  7. 7 Tianjin UniversityChina 126 works
  8. 8 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 118 works
  9. 9 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 110 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 107 works

Who are the leading researchers in Fuel Cells and Related Materials?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Fuel Cells and Related Materials include Zhong Lin Wang, Michaël Grätzel and Kostya S. Novoselov.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  3. 3 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  4. 4 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  5. 5 Yury G. Gogotsi United States 313k citations
  6. 6 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  7. 7 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  8. 8 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  9. 9 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  10. 10 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark 260k 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 Fuel Cells and Related Materials?

The most cited paper in Fuel Cells and Related Materials is "Materials for fuel-cell technologies" (Brian C. H. Steele, Angelika Heinzel, 2001), with 7,775 citations. Next come "Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube Arrays with High Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction" (7,200) and "Electrocatalysis for the oxygen evolution reaction: recent development and future perspectives" (6,312).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Materials for fuel-cell technologies Brian C. H. Steele, Angelika Heinzel · Nature Nov 2001 7,775
2 Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube Arrays with High Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction Kuanping Gong, Feng Du, Zhenhai Xia et al. · Science 6 Feb 2009 7,200
3 Electrocatalysis for the oxygen evolution reaction: recent development and future perspectives Nian‐Tzu Suen, Sung‐Fu Hung, Quan Quan et al. · Chemical Society Reviews Review 2017 6,312
4 Trends in the Exchange Current for Hydrogen Evolution Jens K. Nørskov, Thomas Bligaard, Áshildur Logadóttir et al. · Journal of The Electrochemical Society Open access 2005 6,074
5 Electrocatalyst approaches and challenges for automotive fuel cells Mark K. Debe · Nature Jun 2012 5,898
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Fuel Cells and Related Materials research done?

The largest centres of Fuel Cells and Related Materials research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Wuhan (China) and Tianjin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Jülich.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.1k works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 620 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 420 works
  4. 4 TianjinChina 353 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 328 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 322 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 307 works
  8. 8 HangzhouChina 252 works
  9. 9 HefeiChina 229 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 227 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. JülichDE · 85.8 works20×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Fuel Cells and Related Materials than the world average.

See Fuel Cells and Related Materials on the map

Where is the best place to study Fuel Cells and Related Materials?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Science and Technology of China, City University of Hong Kong and Tongji University 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 19.8%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →City University of H…Jilin UniversityUniversity of Scienc…Tongji University
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
1University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 63.819.9%6.3×110 +81.7%
2City University of Hong KongChina 61.125.6%3.4×29 +141.2%
3Tongji UniversityChina 60.810.0%8.9×201 +80.8%
4Jilin UniversityChina 60.721.3%5.7×98 +54.3%
5Westlake UniversityChina 60.341.2%6.0×11 -
6Tianjin UniversityChina 60.113.8%7.0×126 +13.2%
7Tsinghua UniversityChina 59.514.0%4.2×142 +50.2%
8Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 59.518.7%14.2×90 +14.1%
9Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 59.313.2%5.8×149 +146.0%
10Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 59.020.3%3.2×38 +12.5%

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 Fuel Cells and Related Materials, country by country

Is Fuel Cells and Related Materials research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 34% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Fuel Cells and Related Materials.

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 Fuel Cells and Related Materials as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.077% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Fuel Cells and Related Materials0.073% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Fuel Cells and Related Materials 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%Fuel Cells and Related Materials9.8% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads fuel cell research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Fuel Cells and Related Materials research, followed by Tongji University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (7.6k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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