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To gain insight into the trend of bacterial nanocellulose research, a bibliometric analysis was performed using the Science Citation Index Expanded database from 2005 to 2020. The study concentrated on the publication’s performance in terms of annual outputs and citations, mainstream journals, categories of the Web of Sciences, leading countries, prominent institutions, and trends in research. Current research priorities and future trends were analyzed after summarizing the most commonly used keywords extracted from words in the paper title analysis, authors’ keyword analysis, and
The substance, which is made up of 99% water along with 1% high molecular and highly crystalline polymer with a distinct molecular and supramolecular pattern, is an uncommon yet intriguing challenge in polymer research and application. This explanation applies precisely to particular cellulose with nanostructures, and it is provided here in the form of nanocellulose. Polysaccharide cellulose is a highly significant and intriguing biopolymer, as well as a nearly endless raw source for sustainable polymers. The worldwide reawakening of multidisciplinary cellulose investigation and the application of this plentiful organic polymer has been fueled by the trend of renewable resources and the trend of creating novel goods for science, health, and technology in the last decade (
The cellulose polymer is particularly noteworthy because of its distinct structure, which differs significantly from that of typical manmade polymers. This hydrophilic, chiral, biodegradable, and chemically modifiable linear hard-chain homopolymer is made up of repeated connections of glucose building units. The vast hydrogen bond connection that creates the semi-crystalline fiber shape is likewise based on this chemical structure. As a result, supramolecular organization and specific assembly, which are influenced by cellulose supply and processing, play a major role in cellulose characteristics (
In this context, obtaining diverse forms of cellulose with numerous sources, supramolecular geometries, unique characteristics, and varying availability is highly essential in order to extend the use of cellulose, comprising the advance of unique materials with breakthrough novel functionalities, and also broaden the scope of the application. Floras are the most common source of cellulosic material. Cotton seed hairs have cellulose that is nearly pure. Lignocellulose, on the other hand, forms natural complexes with lignin as well as other carbohydrates, which are then removed from them using wide-ranging pulping process which are chemical, isolation, and purifying procedures. Still wood pulp (
In addition to plants, cellulose is produced by bacteria, algae, and fungus.
All bacterial cellulose must be nanocellulose because the bacteria that make it can only bind fibrils on the nanometer scale. BC is eco-friendly for a variety of reasons, including its high purity, which needs less energy to purify than plant cellulose (
The natural substance BC was originally used in a dessert which is free of calorie known as Nata de Coco, which is now a popular Asian dish. BC has the same molecular formula as plant derived cellulose, with the exception of foreign groups generated by the processing of plant cellulose in the latter. However, the prominent structural features and attributes of BC that are critical to its practical application differ significantly from those of wood cellulose: high purity, great degree of polymerization (DP) having good crystallinity, better water content, and excellent mechanical consistency. The biosynthetic synthesis of BC, as described later, and the consequent particular supramolecular structure cause these specific characteristics. There is no suitable composite partner for a nanofiber network generated during the self-assembly of cellulose molecules in an aqueous solution for example, wood biosynthesis (
The term nano-sized cellulose is used to describe secluded crystallites and whiskers generated by acid-catalyzed cellulose breakdown. This subject, as well as the use of nanocellulose in composite materials, has been extensively researched (
Bibliometrics is a valuable method for mapping the literature on a specific research topic, and it has been utilized to track the research trend in specialized fields of study recently, such as metal-organic frameworks (
As previously stated, a variety of nanocellulose is produced directly by the biosynthesis of specific bacteria. It is necessary to create complex biosynthesis/biotechnology processing and large-scale production in order to produce a very pure product with the crucial qualities. Another type of nanocellulose can be made employing a controlled mechanical decomposition step to achieve favorable product features from a practically endless source of raw wood.
BNC was identified to be a biosynthetic product of
BNC shapes: BNC membranes produced in static fed-batch conditions
The research on BNC throughout the last 3 decades was examined to acquire a better grasp of the global research status in this discipline. This bibliometric study also serves as a foundation for the establishment of medium and long-term BNC research initiatives. Thus, the analysis synthesized quantitative descriptions of publications retrieved from indexed journals, categories by Web of Science, yearly outputs, and top institutions and leading countries as well as the research trends and hotspots identified through the analyses of paper titles, author keywords, and
The data for the present study were obtained from the SCI-EXPANDED of Web of Science in Clarivate Analytics (updated on August 19, 2021). The journal impact factors in 2020 (
The SCI-EXPANDED is mainly designed for researchers to find literatures but not bibliometric study (
Three citation indicators were used to analyze the citations received by the articles:
In 2004, a connection between document types and citations per publication were proposed (
Citations and authors according to document type.
Document type |
|
% |
|
|
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Article | 517 | 86 | 3,102 | 6.0 | 13,856 | 27 |
Meeting abstract | 54 | 9.0 | 255 | 4.7 | 66 | 1.2 |
Review | 29 | 4.8 | 143 | 4.9 | 4,018 | 139 |
Proceedings paper | 5 | 0.83 | 28 | 5.6 | 64 | 13 |
Editorial material | 2 | 0.33 | 3 | 1.5 | 17 | 8.5 |
Correction | 1 | 0.17 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 |
Book chapter | 1 | 0.17 | 7 | 7.0 | 332 | 332 |
Only 517 articles that included introduction, method and material, results and discussion, and conclusion were chosen for further analysis out of all document categories. One of the most important considerations in bibliometric research as a big data analysis is the language of publishing (
A connection between the total annual number of articles (
Number of bacterial nanocellulose articles and their citations per publication by year.
In the year 2020, a total of 9,500 journals was indexed by Journal Citation Reports (JCR) across 178 Web of Science categories in SCI-EXPANDED. Recently, a relationship among number of articles and journals in a Web of Science category as well as number of authors and citations per publication were proposed (
The top 10 productive Web of Science categories.
Web of science category |
|
|
|
AU | APP | No. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Polymer science | 185 (36) | 4,050 | 22 | 1,026 | 5.5 | 88 |
Multidisciplinary materials science | 107 (21) | 4,962 | 46 | 675 | 6.3 | 333 |
Applied chemistry | 90 (17) | 1,867 | 21 | 516 | 5.7 | 74 |
Multidisciplinary chemistry | 78 (15) | 3,239 | 42 | 504 | 6.5 | 178 |
Organic chemistry | 61 (12) | 2,087 | 34 | 374 | 6.1 | 57 |
Applied physics | 54 (10) | 2,349 | 44 | 349 | 6.5 | 160 |
Nanoscience and nanotechnology | 51 (10) | 2,991 | 59 | 374 | 7.3 | 106 |
Textiles materials science | 51 (10) | 838 | 16 | 285 | 5.6 | 25 |
Paper and wood materials science | 49 (9.5) | 829 | 17 | 280 | 5.7 | 22 |
Physical chemistry | 47 (9.1) | 2,942 | 63 | 330 | 7.0 | 162 |
Developments of the top five Web of Science categories with
The top five most productive journals with more than 10 articles were:
Of the 518 bacterial nanocellulose articles from 51 different countries, 369 articles (71% of the 518 articles) were single country articles across 31 different countries, while 149 (29%) articles were international collaborations from 48 different countries. The top 10 productive countries are listed in
Top 10 productive countries.
Country | TP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
China | 145 | 1 (28) | 28 | 1 (28) | 1 (28) | 1 (26) | 29 | 1 (24) | 30 |
United States | 50 | 2 (10) | 33 | 6 (5.1) | 2 (21) | 4 (5.8) | 41 | 3 (6.8) | 38 |
Iran | 39 | 3 (7.5) | 18 | 2 (8.4) | 15 (5.4) | 2 (6.9) | 19 | 2 (6.9) | 19 |
Sweden | 38 | 4 (7.3) | 43 | 15 (1.9) | 2 (21) | 7 (4.1) | 61 | 7 (4.6) | 58 |
Brazil | 37 | 5 (7.1) | 16 | 3 (7.0) | 7 (7.4) | 3 (6.8) | 16 | 4 (6.6) | 17 |
Portugal | 37 | 5 (7.1) | 22 | 5 (5.4) | 4 (11) | 4 (5.8) | 25 | 5 (5.8) | 25 |
Germany | 36 | 7 (6.9) | 28 | 4 (5.7) | 5 (10) | 6 (5.6) | 24 | 6 (5.4) | 22 |
South Korea | 25 | 8 (4.8) | 35 | 7 (4.3) | 11 (6.0) | 8 (3.9) | 39 | 8 (3.9) | 39 |
Japan | 20 | 9 (3.9) | 75 | 9 (3.0) | 11 (6.0) | 14 (2.1) | 121 | 15 (2.1) | 121 |
Thailand | 20 | 9 (3.9) | 20 | 9 (3.0) | 11 (6.0) | 10 (3.1) | 7.7 | 9 (3.1) | 7.7 |
Comparison of development trends among the top seven productive countries with
In the case of performance of institutions, 179 articles (35% of 518 articles) came from a single institution while 339 articles (65%) were collaborative amongst institutions. Only five institutes had 15 articles or more: Donghua University (China) with 41 articles (7.9% of 518 articles), Tianjin University (China) with 25 articles (4.8%), University of Aveiro (Portugal) with 24 articles (4.6%), Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil) with 16 articles (3.1%), and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) with 15 articles (2.9%). Donghua University also published the most single-institute articles (18 articles; 10%), inter-institutionally articles (23 articles; 6.8%), first-author articles (39 articles; 7.5%), and corresponding-author articles (30 articles; 5.8%). In addition, there is no single-author article in bacterial nanocellulose study.
After publication, highly cited publications may or may not have a high impact or visibility (
The top 10 most frequently cited articles with search keywords in their title or author keywords.
R (TC2020) |
|
Title | Country | References |
---|---|---|---|---|
3 (331) | 8 (40) | All-solid-state flexible supercapacitors fabricated with bacterial nanocellulose papers, carbon nanotubes, and triblock-copolymer ion gels | South Korea |
|
5 (252) | 39 (18) | Biomimetic synthesis of hydroxyapatite/bacterial cellulose nanocomposites for biomedical applications | China, Canada |
|
6 (251) | 27 (21) | Surface modification of bacterial cellulose nanofibers for property enhancement of optically transparent composites: Dependence on acetyl-group DS | Japan |
|
7 (236) | 34 (19) | Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite-bacterial cellulose nanocomposites | China |
|
10 (190) | 15 (26) | Bacterial nanocellulose as a renewable material for biomedical applications | Sweden, Germany |
|
11 (186) | 48 (14) | Synthesis of silver nanoparticles templated by TEMPO-mediated oxidized bacterial cellulose nanofibers | Japan |
|
12 (151) | 29 (20) | Bacterial cellulose nanofiber-supported polyaniline nanocomposites with flake-shaped morphology as supercapacitor electrodes | China |
|
13 (141) | 24 (22) | Development of transparent bacterial cellulose nanocomposite film as substrate for flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display | Canada, Thailand |
|
16 (124) | 153 (7) | Proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells on hydroxyapatite/bacterial cellulose nanocomposite scaffolds | China |
|
17 (122) | 12 (29) | Active wound dressings based on bacterial nanocellulose as drug delivery system for octenidine | Germany |
|
The citation histories of the top seven most frequently cited articles with search keywords in their title or author keywords (
Analysis of used words in publication titles, abstracts, author keywords, and
The top 20 most used words in title, author keywords, and
Word in title |
|
|
Author keywords |
|
|
|
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bacterial | 392 | 1 (76) | Bacterial cellulose | 156 | 1 (37) | Cellulose | 94 | 1 (18) |
Cellulose | 247 | 2 (48) | Bacterial nanocellulose | 123 | 2 (29) | Composites | 72 | 2 (14) |
Nanocellulose | 180 | 3 (35) | Nanocomposites | 27 | 3 (6.4) | Bacterial cellulose | 61 | 3 (12) |
Nanofibers | 90 | 4 (17) | Mechanical properties | 22 | 4 (5.2) | Nanoparticles | 56 | 4 (11) |
Nanocomposites | 52 | 5 (10) | Nanocomposite | 22 | 4 (5.2) | Mechanical-properties | 51 | 5 (10) |
Properties | 51 | 6 (10) | Bacterial cellulose nanofibers | 18 | 6 (4.3) | Nanocomposites | 46 | 6 (9) |
Novel | 44 | 7 (8.5) | Wound dressing | 14 | 7 (3.3) | Acetobacter-xylinum | 36 | 7 (7) |
Nanocomposite | 42 | 8 (8.1) | Nanocellulose | 12 | 8 (2.9) | Membranes | 34 | 8 (6.7) |
Composites | 30 | 9 (5.8) | Tissue engineering | 12 | 8 (2.9) | Films | 33 | 9 (6.5) |
Flexible | 30 | 9 (5.8) | Nanofiber | 10 | 10 (2.4) | Microbial cellulose | 32 | 10 (6.3) |
Production | 29 | 11 (5.6) | Polypyrrole | 10 | 10 (2.4) | Cellulose production | 30 | 11 (5.9) |
Preparation | 26 | 12 (5.0) | Antimicrobial activity | 9 | 12 (2.1) | Fibers | 30 | 11 (5.9) |
Films | 25 | 13 (4.8) | Wound healing | 9 | 12 (2.1) | Fabrication | 26 | 13 (5.1) |
Nanofiber | 25 | 13 (4.8) | adsorption | 8 | 14 (1.9) | Gluconacetobacter-xylinus | 26 | 13 (5.1) |
Situ | 25 | 13 (4.8) | Biocompatibility | 8 | 14 (1.9) | Composite | 25 | 15 (4.9) |
Poly | 23 | 16 (4.4) | Chitosan | 8 | 14 (1.9) | Nanofibers | 25 | 15 (4.9) |
Wound | 23 | 16 (4.4) | Gluconacetobacter xylinus | 8 | 14 (1.9) | Acid | 24 | 17 (4.7) |
Characterization | 22 | 18 (4.2) | HHydrogel | 7 | 18 (1.7) | Behavior | 24 | 17 (4.7) |
Mechanical | 22 | 18 (4.2) | Hydroxyapatite | 7 | 18 (1.7) | Biosynthesis | 24 | 17 (4.7) |
Membranes | 22 | 18 (4.2) | Immobilization | 7 | 18 (1.7) | Adsorption | 23 | 20 (4.5) |
Nanoparticles | 22 | 18 (4.2) | Laccase | 7 | 18 (1.7) |
|
23 | 20 (4.5) |
Surface | 22 | 18 (4.2) | Nanofibers | 7 | 18 (1.7) | — | — | — |
Synthesis | 22 | 18 (4.2) | — | — | — |
Areas of bacterial nanocellulose applications.
Sectors | Uses |
---|---|
Cosmetic industries | Cosmetics preservative of emulsions such as creams, conditioners, lotions, etc. |
Textile industries | Sports and leisure apparel, shelters and camp out utensils |
Mining and processing plant sectors | Wipers to accumulate dripping oil, constituents for toxic absorption |
Waste treatment plant | Recycling of natural resources |
Manure refinement process | Municipal sewage refinement, extreme filtration of water |
Communication industries | Headset and speaker diaphragms |
Food industry | Fit for human consumption cellulose (nata de coco) |
High grade paper | Substitution of wood |
Medicine/biomedical applications | Artificial skin, medicine delivery, dressing of wound, burns, dental implants, etc. |
Research labs | Culture medium for tissue engineering, chromatography, immobilization of protein |
Electronic devices | Biosensors, capacitors, displays |
Energy sectors | Membrane fuel cell containing palladium |
Since 1992, BC has been regarded by the FDA as a “generally recognized as safe (GRAS)” food additive (
Utilization of BNC granules as food additives;
Individual care goods and domestic chemicals are BNC’s second largest utilization sector (
Face masks made from BNC-based raw material. Reprinted with permission from
Dressings of injury, imitation skin, dental transplants, medication delivery, hemostatic constituents, vascular grafts, tissue engineering, biosensors, and diagnostics are just a few of the biomedical applications where BNC holds a lot of promise (
An overview of BNC implants used in tissue restoration and regrowth reprinted with permission from
Wound dressing made from BNC;
BNC is as well employed as an origin of plant free rayon and fabrics as a raw material (
Nanollose makes NullarborTM fibre
Polymers can be added to the culture medium throughout the fermentation procedure to create BNC with variable physical and chemical properties (
The need for devices with energy storage capabilities has been expanding as electronic technology progresses, and these devices are built in an easy-to-access and small manner without sacrificing functionality. Since the decrease of non-renewable reserves, the use of biodegradable polymers has become increasingly popular (
Polyaniline (PA) was formed on the surfaces of BNC and Graphene nanosheets (GN) simultaneously, resulting in a ternary composite material with increased conductivity on the BNC/GN nanocomposite, according to
An electroactive hydrogel with BNC was successfully created through cellulose breakdown and physical and chemical crosslinking. The prepared hydrogel with 3D compact nanostructured with showed thermal stability, mechanical characteristics, recoverability, and water absorption. The electroactive hydrogel displayed good biocompatibility and could be advantageous for NIH3T3 cell growth, according to the
Several key aspects about global research trends of BNC were presented by analyzing bibliometric information available in title, keywords, Keywords plus, author keywords, and author performance of highly cited articles from 2005 to 2020 published in SCI-EXPANDED. The analyses using supporting words in the title, author, keywords, abstract, and
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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