Emerging Trends in Nanorobotics for Environmental Remediation: A Bibliometric Review

Nanorobotics is a breakthrough approach to cleaning up the environment since it can find and get rid of pollutants in a precise, flexible, and multipurpose way. By analyzing global publication, citation, and collaboration trends, this bibliometric research finds developing trends, and major players. Based on the data, there was a dramatic increase in research activity in the 2015-2025 time period. China, India, and the United States play major roles in this research landscape with many leaders in research being top-ranked universities, top ranked journals, and top rated researchers. While applications include wastewater treatment, heavy metal removal, and microplastic degradation, the focus of research is primarily in engineering and the chemical sciences. While research has been advancing in recent years, there still exists gaps in appropriate mitigation at large scales, energy efficiency, and contaminant specific optimization. In addition, a number of emerging technologies such as magnetic actuation, nanomaterials, and propulsion are driving innovation through convergence of technologies. Overall, the review provides an excellent basis for researchers to anchor their research on in the future and encourages collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to develop and deploy scalable and sustainable nanorobotic solutions applied to environmental problems.