Assessing nanocellulose developments using science and technology indicators

• Main Authors: Douglas Henrique Milanez, Roniberto Morato do Amaral, Leandro Innocentini Lopes de Faria, José Angelo Rodrigues Gregolin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Brasileira de Metalurgia e Materiais (ABM); Associação Brasileira de Cerâmica (ABC); Associação Brasileira de Polímeros (ABPol) 2013-06-01
• Series: Materials Research
• Subjects: nanomaterials; bibliometry; scientific publication; patent document
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-14392013000300014

This research aims to examine scientific and technological trends of developments in nanocellulose based on scientometric and patent indicators obtained from the Science Citation Index and Derwent Innovations Index in 2001-2010. The overall nanocellulose activity indicators were compared to nanotechnology and other selected nanomaterials. Scientific and technological future developments in nanocellulose were forecasted using extrapolation growth curves and the main countries were also mapped. The results showed that nanocellulose publications and patent documents have increased rapidly over the last five years with an average growth rate higher than that of nanotechnology and fullerene. The USA, Japan, France, Sweden and Finland all played a significant role in nanocellulose development and the extrapolation growth curves suggested that nanocellulose scientific and technological activities are still emerging. Finally, the evidence from this study recommends monitoring nanocellulose S&T advances in the coming years.