Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China.
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Rev Environ Health. 2021 May 11;37(1):13-27. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2020-0123. Print 2022 Mar 28.
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are eco-friendly and useful bioelectrical devices that harness the natural metabolisms of microbes to produce electrical power directly from organic materials. In this study, a bibliometric analysis is conducted to evaluate MFC research from 2001 to 2018 on the basis of the Science Citation Index Expanded database. Overall, MFC research has experienced a dramatic increase over last 18 years, with an exponential growth in the accumulated number of publications. Most publications are closely related to the industrialization and commoditization of MFCs, along with environmental issues, which are currently the biggest global challenges in MFC studies. A small proportion (4.34%) of the scientific journals published more than half (54.34%) of the total articles in the MFC field. Articles from the top 10 countries/regions accounted for the majority (83.16%) of the total articles, clearly indicating that advanced MFC technologies are currently dominated by these countries/regions. Moreover, an increasing number of MFC researchers are considering two-chamber and three-chamber MFC reactions. In particular, they are focusing on environmental technology instead of merely improving the efficiency of electricity generation. Materials research in the MFC field is still a popular area worldwide, and many researchers have focused on novel and eco-friendly cathode and anode developments. Meanwhile, only a few MFC studies are concerned with biological research.
微生物燃料电池（MFC）是一种环保且实用的生物电气设备，它利用微生物的自然代谢来直接从有机材料中产生电能。本研究基于科学引文索引扩展数据库，对 2001 年至 2018 年间的 MFC 研究进行了文献计量分析。总体而言，在过去的 18 年中，MFC 研究经历了显著的增长，其累积出版物数量呈指数级增长。大多数出版物与 MFC 的工业化和商品化以及环境问题密切相关，这些问题是当前 MFC 研究中最大的全球性挑战。一小部分（4.34%）科学期刊发表了 MFC 领域超过一半（54.34%）的总文章。来自前 10 个国家/地区的文章占总文章的大部分（83.16%），这清楚地表明，先进的 MFC 技术目前由这些国家/地区主导。此外，越来越多的 MFC 研究人员正在考虑双室和三室 MFC 反应。特别是，他们专注于环境技术，而不仅仅是提高发电效率。MFC 领域的材料研究仍然是全球的热门领域，许多研究人员专注于新型和环保的阴极和阳极开发。同时，只有少数 MFC 研究涉及生物研究。
