A Bibliometric Analysis of Redox Species and Bio-Derived Electrodes for the Conversion of Petroleum-Contaminated...

The environmental crisis caused by hydrocarbon-contaminated sediment from the oil industry remains a pressing concern. While sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) offer a potential remediation strategy, they suffer from low power densities and high internal resistance, compounded by a lack of integrated knowledge on electrogenic bacteria. The methodology involved an analysis and systematic mapping of 933 documents retrieved from Scopus (2010-2026) using RStudio (R 4.3.1) with Bibliometrix (4.1.4), VOSviewer (1.6.20), and Plotly Studio (4.10.4), complemented by an analysis of system configurations, electrode materials, and electrochemical performance parameters. The results show exponential growth in scientific production (R² = 0.9959), with China serving as the central hub for international collaboration, followed by the United States and Japan. The most influential authors (Li Y., Li X.) achieve H-indices of 94.33 and collaboration networks of up to 88 co-authors. The most studied strains are Geobacter sulfurreducens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, achieving hydrocarbon removal efficiencies of up to 80% and a maximum power density of 7280 mW/m² using a castor oil powder cathode. The predominant configurations are dual-chamber cells with PEM membranes and single-chamber air-cathode cells, employing carbon-iron electrodes and nanomaterials. The main bottlenecks identified are industrial scalability, lack of automation, limited durability (6-24 months), and the absence of regulatory frameworks.