Abstract
“Ensure access to water for all”, states Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This worldwide challenge requires identifying the best water disinfection method for each scenario. Traditional methods have limitations, which include low effectiveness towards certain pathogens and the formation of disinfection byproducts. Solar-driven methods, such as solar water disinfection (SODIS) or solar photocatalysis, are novel, effective, and financially and environmentally sustainable alternatives. We have conducted a critical study of publications in the field of water disinfection using solar energy and, hereby, present the first bibliometric analysis of scientific literature from Elsevier’s Scopus database within the last 20 years. Results show that in this area of growing interest USA, Spain, and China are the most productive countries in terms of publishing, yet Europe hosts the most highly recognized research groups, i.e., Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, and UK. We have also reviewed the journals in which researchers mostly publish and, using a systematic approach to determine the actual research trends and gaps, we have analyzed the capacity of these publications to answer key research questions, pinpointing six clusters of keywords in relation to the main research challenges, open areas, and new applications that lie ahead. Most publications focused on SODIS and photocatalytic nanomaterials, while a limited number focused on ensuring adequate water disinfection levels, testing regulated microbial indicators and emerging pathogens, and real-world applications, which include complex matrices, large scale processes, and exhaustive cost evaluation.
Highlights
Access to safe drinking water is a global concern with implications to public health and well-being and to global economic development
WOS was used to search for impact indexes, whereas an exhaustive search was carried out in Scopus using (TITLE-ABS-KEY (Solar and Disinfection)) as the search field
Revising the research questions proposed at the introduction of this bibliometric study, we have found that disinfection mediated by solar radiation is a research area of growing interest, the USA being the country with the most publications, distributed among many centers, while research in Europe focuses on well-established groups from Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, and United Kingdom
Summary
Access to safe drinking water is a global concern with implications to public health and well-being and to global economic development. According to the United Nations’ 2030 agenda, the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all [2]. This remains a huge challenge for low-income countries, where 3 out of 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking-water services. 485,000 deaths by diarrhea each year [3] These vulnerabilities become worse in the case of natural or man-made disasters such as global climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic; according to the UN, stopping the pandemic requires accessibility to safe water for people living in these areas [2]
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