Hotspots evolution, current challenges and future directions of microbial fuel cell: By bibliometric analysis and network meta-analysis

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a bioelectrochemical technology that has received a lot of attention for its ability to simultaneously enable wastewater treatment and energy generation . For the first time, bibliometrics and network meta-analysis (NMA) have been combined to demonstrate key research topics, hotspots evolution, current challenges, and future directions of MFC. This study is based on the Web of Science core collection database, which collected 9870 papers from 1962 to 2023. The results showed that the hotspots evolution of MFC is mainly concentrated in four directions, including energy production, wastewater treatment , design optimization, and derivative technologies. The research hotspots of MFC in the last decade were systematically described, including diversified energy production, removal of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes , MFC-based biosensors, anode design , cathode catalyst design, photosynthetic microbial fuel cell, and constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell. Finally, challenges and future directions conducive to the further development of MFC were presented, providing practical insights for researchers aiming to develop and optimize MFC. • Bibliometric analysis and network meta-analysis provide comprehensive insights to MFC. • The optimization strategy of MFC design has received high attention. • Advanced designs for electron mediators, anode and cathode catalysts were ranked. • Challenges and future directions for MFC are put forward.