Emerging topics in energy storage based on a large-scale analysis of academic articles and patents

Energy storage technologies are a critical component of the rapidly growing global demand for reliable electric power supply. Consequently, researchers in both academia and industry have intensified their focus on enhancing electric power generation and distribution systems, publishing thousands of related documents each year. This abundance of information makes keeping up with new developments in the field difficult for researchers and practitioners. To help in this matter, this present study leverages computational methods that allow the exhaustive navigation of the scientific and technological landscape. We identified 52 emerging topics in academic publications and 34 topics in industry after mining more than 100,000 academic articles and patents on energy storage. The key emerging topics in academia were found to be primarily related to the optimization of lithium-sulfur batteries, led by studies focused on decreasing the formation of dendrites in the anode or avoiding the insulation of sulfur in the cathode after repeated charging cycles. Meanwhile, industry research has been directed toward electric digital data processing for multi-power systems. This includes the development of devices to orchestrate the integration of multiple systems in the grid, including renewables and virtual power plants. We also found that a much larger proportion of advances in new energy storage technologies is being led by industry, even before being scrutinized in academia. The identification of exclusive and overlapping topics presented in this study aims to offer a basis for discovering potential opportunities either for industrial commercialization or for university-industry collaboration.