Advancements in sustainability in the 21st century: A bibliometric analysis of solar power and its applications

The burning of fossil fuels for energy consumption is a substantial contributor to the main issues of climate change and environmental degradation that are affecting sustainable development worldwide. Solar power is a type of electricity that is generated from solar energy through the use of a variety of technologies. These technologies are found in a wide range of industries. The primary sectors for solar power application are households or residential, commercial or industrial, transport, desalination, and agriculture. The current and future trends in the solar power sector are revealed through bibliometric analysis in this study. In this investigation, we examine the scholarly publications that have been published in these application sectors in order to address the research questions that emphasise the sustainability and sustainable development growth of the world. The VOS viewer and R studio software are employed to conduct a variety of analyses on the selected documents. Keyword analysis, a three-field diagram, a collaboration network, trend topic investigation, research statistics, and the most pertinent journals and authors are all included in this analysis. Based on 1495 selected documents from 92 countries, the analysis emphasises the annual growth rate of 24.15%. Desalination is the most extensively researched sector among the selected sectors, according to the findings and analysis of this study. By providing future direction for each area of solar power application, this study contributes to all of the selected application sectors. • Provides a clear scenario of solar power and its application in major sectors. • Evaluates solar power research, identifying top applications in five sectors. • Identifies and discusses solar power’s current trends and future research scope. • Provides valuable insights for future researchers in solar power applications.