A bibliometric analysis on safety of fuel cells: Research trends and perspectives

Fuel cells, as energy conversion devices, are receiving attention from researchers and developers due to their high efficiency and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, despite the prospect of booming fuel cell development, the overall quality and level of development still need to be improved, and safety is one of the key development indicators. This article presents a scientometric and knowledge network analysis of fuel cell safety based on information from 890 relevant publications in the Web of Science Core Collection. The bibliometric software VOSviewer and Co-Occurrence are used for in-depth analysis and visual presentation of the publication information. The results show that the first publication is released in 1991, and this research field has exploded since 2017. Moreover, the USA and China have the strongest cooperation in this field. The hot areas of fuel cell safety research are focused on five clusters: electrode and catalyst safety, fuel cell electric vehicle safety, hydrogen safety, energy generation and storage safety, and solid oxide fuel cell safety. This article maps the knowledge of research related to fuel cell safety and helps readers gain a quick perspective on the research structure and future directions in this field.