Mapping Scientific and Topic Evolution Around Lithium-Based Clean Energy Technologies: A Bibliometric Analysis

Xochitl Virginia Bello-Yañez, María-Concepción Martínez-Rodríguez (), Lorena Elizabeth Campos-Villegas, Ana Laura Cervantes-Nájera and Alejandro Padilla-Rivera
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Xochitl Virginia Bello-Yañez: Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Centro Interdiciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios Sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Mexico City 07340, Mexico
María-Concepción Martínez-Rodríguez: Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Centro Interdiciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios Sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Mexico City 07340, Mexico
Lorena Elizabeth Campos-Villegas: Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Centro Interdiciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios Sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Mexico City 07340, Mexico
Ana Laura Cervantes-Nájera: Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Centro Interdiciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios Sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Mexico City 07340, Mexico
Alejandro Padilla-Rivera: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Climate change effects have a significant global negative impact, prompting global leaders to promote clean energy use to reduce carbon emissions. Electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries are crucial to achieving this goal. Lithium is an essential material for the efficient operation of electric batteries, so in recent years, its demand has increased, and it is considered a strategic mineral. This paper aims to describe and analyze the scientific development of lithium-based clean energy technologies and reveal future areas of scientific production priority. This research is conducted through a bibliometric analysis in the Scopus database from 1929 to April 2024. Using the software Bibliometrix 4.1 and Biblioshiny the exported literature data are analyzed. The number of papers on lithium topics has significantly increased since 2018, with China leading in publications and collaborating with many countries. The trending topics are geological prospection, lithium ore characterization, chemical engineering, and lithium energy technologies. Lithium research is a growing field, but its development is uneven. Only a few countries lead in scientific production and lithium energy technologies, and sustainability lithium topics related to Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) require further attention. Lithium research development is influenced by global economic trends.

Keywords: lithium; bibliometric analysis; scientific evolution; Scopus; clean energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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