Indium

Indium (In) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Indium’s research intensity stands at about 95% of its all-time peak, a level reached within this specific ten-year window.

Research intensity ran from about 100% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 95% in 2026 — a mid-window dip followed by a recovery, and the all-time peak (2016) falls inside this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements held steady. Among the 118 elements, indium has a larger-than-average research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 55,625 in 2016 to about 98,504 in 2025 (1.77x). That is slower than the literature as a whole grew over the same years, so the element lost ground in the wider body of research even as its own count rose.

The core of indium’s recent research is defined by three distinct communities. The largest is Indium Oxide Transparent Electrodes and Thin-Film Transistors, where indium serves as the primary constituent in indium oxide and indium gallium oxide films for transparent conductive electrodes and amorphous thin-film transistor channels. Here, indium is one strand of a broader community, with about 30% of its papers involving the element. This community accounts for about 15% of indium’s recent research, a steady share compared to the previous period. A key paper in this area is "Self-Assembled Monolayer Enables Hole Transport Layer-Free Organic Solar Cells with 18% Efficiency and Improved Operational Stability" (2020), cited over 680 times.

A second major area is Indium-Gallium Nitride Quantum Wells for Light Emission, focusing on indium-gallium nitride quantum wells and dots engineered for light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. In this context, indium is one strand of a broader community, appearing in about 16% of its papers. It represents about 11% of indium’s recent research, holding steady from the prior period. Notable work includes "A review of band structure and material properties of transparent conducting and semiconducting oxides: Ga2O3, Al2O3, In2O3, ZnO, SnO2, CdO, NiO, CuO, and Sc2O3" (2022), cited over 350 times.

The third community is Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots and Thin-Film Photovoltaics, which centers on InP-based quantum dots for light emission and CIGS thin-film solar cells. Indium is one strand of a broader community here, involved in about 13% of its papers. This group accounts for about 8% of indium’s recent research, also steady. A standout contribution is "High-concentration silver alloying and steep back-contact gallium grading enabling copper indium gallium selenide solar cell with 23.6% efficiency" (2024), cited over 420 times.

Overall, the composition of indium’s research has remained stable, with the "Other research communities" band holding a steady share of about 65%. The literature is consolidating around these established material applications rather than shifting dramatically toward new fields.

For a deeper look at indium's current standing, see the Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.