Abstract
Purpose
It has been nearly 30 years since the introduction of the technique of diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT), which provides information on solute concentrations and dynamics in waters, sediments, and soils. Probing the progress of DGT research from a bibliometric viewpoint helps capture technique evolution, identify research hotspots and predict future trends.
Results and discussion
In this study, we firstly built a dataset based on 1261 publications about DGT research during 1994–2020 using the Web of Science and then characterized publication records, identified the research hotspots, and constructed a keyword co-occurrence network. Specifically, we highlighted the strengths of DGT in monitoring surface water quality, determining chemical speciation and bioavailability, and unraveling geochemistry dynamic process in sediments and soil-root systems.
Conclusions
Collectively, the information summarized in this study sheds light on the technical development and practical application of DGT as a promising tool in environmental studies.
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Funding
This work was funded by the Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Product Safety (19cdhj-1), State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (PCRRF19016), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177194), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021QNA6004).
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Wei, TJ., Guan, DX., Li, XY. et al. Analysis of studies on environmental measurements using diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) from 1994 to 2020. J Soils Sediments 22, 1069–1079 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03168-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03168-1