Tire wear particles: Trends from bibliometric analysis, environmental distribution with meta-analysis, and implications

Tire wear particles (TWPs), as one of pristine microplastics and non-exhaust emission pollutants, have received extensive attention from scholars worldwide in recent years. In the context of the increasing number of related research results, this study evaluated the current status of TWPs research based on bibliometric analysis and meta-analysis and then discussed in-depth the environmental implications involving transport, transformation of released additives in potential and combined pollution with other microplastics in TWPs researches. Results showed that the regional layout of TWPs research was mainly concentrated in Europe and North America, but with specific countries of the United States, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Thus, Asia and Africa should timely carry out related research on TWPs considering their large vehicle ownerships. In addition, keyword co-occurrence analysis based on CiteSpace showed that biotoxicity, environmental distribution and human health risks are the current research hotspots. Furthermore, the content of TWPs varied greatly by country and environmental media according to the meta-analysis. It is warranted to be urgently investigated on the distribution, quantitative analysis, migration, additives transformation with toxic effects and control measures of TWPs under the influence of various complex factors such as energy innovation and smart driving. The obtained findings can help understand the developing status of TWPs and then promoting their related investigations in future.