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Topic · Materials Chemistry

Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry

Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry is a research topic within Materials Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 26k 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 development, properties, and applications of photochromic materials and molecular switches, including diarylethenes, azobenzenes, and spiropyrans. The research covers areas such as fluorescence modulation, optical control, nanoparticles, and their diverse biological applications.

  • Photochromic
  • Molecular Switches
  • Diarylethenes
  • Azobenzene
  • Spiropyran
  • Fluorescence Modulation
  • Optical Control
  • Nanoparticles
  • Biological Applications
  • Light-Activated
Research works
26k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry

Which countries lead Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.6k and 436 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.6k works
  2. 2 United States 436 works
  3. 3 India 377 works
  4. 4 Japan 345 works
  5. 5 Germany 289 works
  6. 6 France 208 works
  7. 7 Russia 180 works
  8. 8 South Korea 113 works
  9. 9 Italy 103 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 102 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: 41.9%United States: 11.8%India: 10.2%Japan: 9.3%6 others listed: 26.8%42%largest
China1,551 · 41.9%United States436 · 11.8%India377 · 10.2%Japan345 · 9.3%6 others listed994 · 26.8%

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

Which institutions lead Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 109 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 92 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 80 works
  4. 4 Jilin UniversityChina 32 works
  5. 5 Sichuan UniversityChina 31 works
  6. 6 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 31 works
  7. 7 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 28 works
  8. 8 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 25 works
  9. 9 Soochow UniversityChina 24 works
  10. 10 University of GroningenNetherlands 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry include Zhong Lin Wang, Michaël Grätzel and Jun Wang.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  3. 3 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  4. 4 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  5. 5 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  6. 6 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  7. 7 Stefan Grimme Germany 224k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 George M. Sheldrick Germany 220k citations
  10. 10 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 Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry?

The most cited paper in Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry is "Two-Photon Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopy" (Winfried T. Denk, James H. Strickler, Watt W. Webb, 1990), with 9,531 citations. Next come "Ru(II) polypyridine complexes: photophysics, photochemistry, eletrochemistry, and chemiluminescence" (4,851) and "Diarylethenes for Memories and Switches" (4,141).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Two-Photon Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopy Winfried T. Denk, James H. Strickler, Watt W. Webb · Science 6 Apr 1990 9,531
2 Ru(II) polypyridine complexes: photophysics, photochemistry, eletrochemistry, and chemiluminescence Alberto Juris, Vincenzo Balzani, F. Barigelletti et al. · Coordination Chemistry Reviews Mar 1988 4,851
3 Diarylethenes for Memories and Switches Masahiro Irie · Chemical Reviews Review 21 Apr 2000 4,141
4 Photoisomerization in different classes of azobenzene H. M. Dhammika Bandara, Shawn C. Burdette · Chemical Society Reviews Review 18 Oct 2011 3,115
5 Photochromism of Diarylethene Molecules and Crystals: Memories, Switches, and Actuators Masahiro Irie, Tuyoshi Fukaminato, Kenji Matsuda et al. · Chemical Reviews Review 16 Dec 2014 2,735
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research done?

The largest centres of Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Nanjing (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 221 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 132 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 83 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 77 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 70 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 69 works
  7. 7 HangzhouChina 66 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 65 works
  9. 9 ChengduChina 56 works
  10. 10 Xi'anChina 56 works
See Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry on the map

Where is the best place to study Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Groningen, East China University of Science and Technology and Jilin University score highest, combining 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 22.94%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Zhejiang Sci-Tech Un…University of Gronin…East China Universit…Jilin 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.

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 GroningenNetherlands 83.623.5%7.8×22 +44.4%
2East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 74.520.7%15.2×31 +42.8%
3Jilin UniversityChina 69.419.2%6.9×32 +9.9%
4Zhejiang Sci-Tech UniversityChina 67.926.1%15.6×19 +141.5%
5Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 66.931.0%3.3×15 +233.3%
6Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 64.118.5%14.4×25 +14.8%
7Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 62.532.6%1.9×13 +19.6%
8University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62.418.9%3.2×21 +24.7%
9University of WürzburgGermany 59.217.3%10.1×13 +26.0%
10South China University of TechnologyChina 58.421.6%3.9×17 +57.8%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry, country by country

Is Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry.

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 Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.021% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry0.020% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry 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%Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry9.7% 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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