Theme evolution analysis of electrochemical energy storage research based on CitNetExplorer

With the rise in new energy industries, electrochemical energy storage, which plays an important supporting role, has attracted extensive attention from researchers all over the world. To trace the electrochemical energy storage development history, determine the research theme and evolution path, and predict the future development directions, this paper will use CitNetExplorer to draw citation chronology charts and study the development trends in this field by analysing data downloaded from the Web of Science database. The results indicate that the research in this field originated from the study on energy storage materials and gradually divided into two major fields: energy storage materials and applications after 2000. The research on the energy storage materials refers to activated carbon materials, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and mesoporous carbon materials. Energy storage applications mainly focus on power systems, new energy vehicles, and wind farm dispatch. For research on electrochemical energy storage materials, the industrialization of graphene may become a new trending topic, and the application research will turn to the construction of energy Internet systems in the future. This paper will provide a full map for the development of electrochemical energy storage and forecast the future research directions in this field.