Abstract
Over the last four decades, a large number of studies have been published on pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) used as adsorbent materials and catalysts or supports for transition metals in heterogeneous catalysis. Particularly, PILCs have been used for water treatment through advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to remove organic pollutants. They have also been studied in various chemical and environmental processes. Because of the growing interest in PILCs, this article is focused on analyzing scientific publications such as research/review articles and book chapters from the last four decades (from 1980 to 2019) through a bibliometric analysis (BA) to visualize and describe research trends on PILCs. By narrowing the bibliographic search to titles, keywords, and abstracts of publications related to PILCs, using Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) (the two scientific databases), a total of 3425 documents have been retrieved. The bibliometric dataset was analyzed by VantagePoint®. The main research trends identified in the last four decades were the use of PILCs in environmental processes (34.4% of total publications) along with chemical processes (petrochemical reactions 17.5%, SCR NOx 10.8%, and decomposition 8.2%). In environmental processes, PILCs have been used in photo-oxidation (32%), CWPO (21.1%), and heterogeneous catalysis (19.4%). Phenols, dyes, and VOCs have been the main pollutants studied using PILCs as catalysts. Fe, Ti, Zr, Cu, and Co are the most supported active phases in PILCs. Other research trends grouped by characterization techniques, countries, research areas, institutes, scientific journals that have published the most on this topic, number of publications per 5-year period, and most frequently used keywords through the last four decades have been identified. It was determined that the number of publications on PILCs has increased since 1980 and the countries with the highest number of publications are China, Spain, and The United States of America.
Highlights
Over the last four decades, a large number of studies have been published on pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) used as adsorbent materials and catalysts or supports for transition metals in heterogeneous catalysis
By narrowing the bibliographic search to titles, keywords, and abstracts of publications related to PILCs, using Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), a total of 3425 documents have been retrieved. e bibliometric dataset was analyzed by VantagePoint®. e main research trends identified in the last four decades were the use of PILCs in environmental processes (34.4% of total publications) along with chemical processes
PILCs have been used in photo-oxidation (32%), catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) (21.1%), and heterogeneous catalysis (19.4%)
Summary
Over the last four decades, a large number of studies have been published on pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) used as adsorbent materials and catalysts or supports for transition metals in heterogeneous catalysis. In recent years, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been studied for the e Scientific World Journal removal of a wide number of organic contaminants to increase wastewater biodegradability as a pretreatment prior to a subsequent biological treatment [4, 5]. Clays are very useful for several applications in the field of catalysis, the lack of permanent porosity is their main disadvantage [12] To avoid this drawback, a way to expand the clay layers was found by inserting stable “pillars” in the interlayer space, increasing the surface area of the material and creating a high pore volume [12, 13]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
