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Topic · Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods

Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods is a research topic within Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment. Science Explorer counts 20k 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 and application of solar-powered water desalination technologies to address severe water scarcity. The research involves photothermal materials, nanoparticles, hydrogels, and plasmonic absorbers for efficient water evaporation and clean water production using renewable energy sources. Additionally, the cluster explores atmospheric water harvesting as a potential solution.

  • Solar Desalination
  • Water Scarcity
  • Photothermal Materials
  • Nanoparticles
  • Water Evaporation
  • Renewable Energy
  • Hydrogels
  • Plasmonic Absorbers
  • Atmospheric Water Harvesting
  • Clean Water Production
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+66%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods

Which countries lead Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (3.6k and 899 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.6k works
  2. 2 India 899 works
  3. 3 United States 452 works
  4. 4 Iran 289 works
  5. 5 Saudi Arabia 285 works
  6. 6 Egypt 280 works
  7. 7 South Korea 216 works
  8. 8 Iraq 176 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 148 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 141 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: 55.7%India: 13.8%United States: 6.9%Iran: 4.4%6 others listed: 19.1%56%largest
China3,632 · 55.7%India899 · 13.8%United States452 · 6.9%Iran289 · 4.4%6 others listed1,246 · 19.1%

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

Which institutions lead Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research, followed by Donghua University and Xi'an Jiaotong University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 182 works
  2. 2 Donghua UniversityChina 61 works
  3. 3 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 61 works
  4. 4 King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 59 works
  5. 5 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 57 works
  6. 6 South China University of TechnologyChina 50 works
  7. 7 Sichuan UniversityChina 50 works
  8. 8 Tsinghua UniversityChina 49 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang UniversityChina 48 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 47 works

Who are the leading researchers in Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods 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 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  5. 5 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  6. 6 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  7. 7 Omar M. Yaghi United States 254k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  10. 10 Younan Xia United States 207k 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 Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods?

The most cited paper in Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods is "Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades" (Mark A. Shannon, Paul W. Bohn, Menachem Elimelech et al., 2008), with 8,492 citations. Next come "The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment" (6,750) and "Plasmonic-metal nanostructures for efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy" (4,870).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades Mark A. Shannon, Paul W. Bohn, Menachem Elimelech et al. · Nature 19 Mar 2008 8,492
2 The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment Menachem Elimelech, William A. Phillip · Science 4 Aug 2011 6,750
3 Plasmonic-metal nanostructures for efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy Suljo Linic, Phillip Christopher, David B. Ingram · Nature Materials 23 Nov 2011 4,870
4 Solar thermal collectors and applications Soteris A. Kalogirou · Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 2004 3,213
5 Membrane distillation: A comprehensive review Abdullah Alkhudhiri, Naif A. Darwish, Nidal Hilal · Desalination 17 Sep 2011 2,632
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research done?

The largest centres of Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kafr ash Shaykh, Dhahran and Tanta.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 526 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 252 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 220 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 188 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 173 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 135 works
  7. 7 TianjinChina 125 works
  8. 8 TehranIran 116 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 116 works
  10. 10 ChennaiIndia 110 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Kafr ash ShaykhEG · 33.3 works34×
  2. DhahranSA · 63.3 works16×
  3. TantaEG · 36.9 works14×
  4. Al KharjSA · 21.8 works9.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods than the world average.

See Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods on the map

Where is the best place to study Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods?

Among universities, judged by research, Kafrelsheikh University, Tanta University and Donghua 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 24.64%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tanta UniversityBeijing University o…Kafrelsheikh Univers…Donghua 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
1Kafrelsheikh UniversityEgypt 77.027.5%38.2×33 +216.0%
2Tanta UniversityEgypt 72.631.5%15.2×37 +14.1%
3Donghua UniversityChina 71.020.7%22.3×61 +74.2%
4Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 70.129.1%10.3×33 +148.8%
5City University of Hong KongChina 69.827.9%5.9×25 +89.8%
6Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz UniversitySaudi Arabia 66.722.1%11.3×22 +232.6%
7Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 66.221.8%5.3×34 +78.2%
8Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 65.023.2%9.2×31 +235.3%
9Shaanxi University of Science and TechnologyChina 64.822.6%19.8×36 +356.7%
10Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 62.820.0%2.6×57 +14.7%

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 Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods, country by country

Is Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 66% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods.

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 Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods0.036% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods 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%Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods10.0% 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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