Global thrust on fuel cells and their sustainability – an assessment of research trends by bibliometric analysis

We presented a bibliometric analysis of publications on global scientific and technological research in the field of fuel cell based on the data from Science Citation Index Expanded, Web of Science from 1992 to 2011, to provide insights into the characteristics, research activities and technological breakthrough and identify patterns and tendencies. Articles were assessed by many aspects, including model regression fitting the trend of publication outputs, distribution of words in source title, author keyword and KeyWords Plus. By synthetically analysing the keywords, it can be inferred that application of fuel cell ranges from automobiles to consumer electronic devices. Research especially related to 'proton exchange membrane fuel cell', 'direct methanol fuel cell', 'molten carbonate fuel cell', 'solid oxide fuel cell' and 'catalysts' is the orientation of the fuel cell research in the twenty-first century.