Lanthanum

Lanthanum (La) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Research intensity has declined steadily over the last decade, currently sitting at about 70% of the element's all-time peak.

Research intensity ran from about 89% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 70% in 2026 — a steady decline, and the all-time peak (2009) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements fell. Among the 118 elements, lanthanum has a mid-sized research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 3,445 in 2016 to about 7,436 in 2025 (2.16x). That matches the growth of the literature as a whole over the same years: the general tide of scientific output, not a surge specific to the element.

The research communities making up this literature are diverse, with lanthanum often serving as a supporting player rather than the central focus. Lanthanum Oxides for Catalysis and Electrode Materials represents about 7% of the element's recent research, a steady share compared to the previous period. In this community, lanthanum is a minor presence in a much larger community — about 9% of its papers involve lanthanum. Lanthanum silicates, gallates, and strontium-doped oxides serve as catalysts or electrode components in solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis, with distinctive work on lanthanum strontium and doped lanthanum materials. A 2019 review on lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite perovskite electrodes, cited over 460 times, anchors this area, alongside a 2024 study on heterogeneous catalyst coating, cited about 56 times.

Lanthanum Sorbents for Phosphate Removal in Wastewater accounts for about 6% of recent research, also steady. Here, lanthanum is a minor presence in a much larger community — about 1% of its papers involve lanthanum. Lanthanum-modified bentonite and hydroxide materials are engineered to adsorb and remove phosphate from water, with distinctive phrases including lanthanum modified and efficient phosphate removal. A 2022 review on phosphate removal and recovery by lanthanum-based adsorbents, cited over 200 times, is a key reference, as is a 2024 paper on lanthanum-coated sludge biochar, cited about 80 times.

Lanthanum Recovery from Aqueous Waste Streams holds about 6% of the element's recent research, steady as well. Lanthanum is a minor presence in a much larger community — about 4% of its papers involve lanthanum. These papers focus on extracting and recovering lanthanum ions from aqueous solutions, often alongside cerium, with distinctive work on lanthanum cerium separation. A 2023 review on ion exchange for rare earth separation, cited over 200 times, and a 2023 Nature paper on enhanced rare-earth separation with a metal-sensitive lanmodulin dimer, cited over 200 times, highlight this field.

The composition of lanthanum research has remained stable, with the three named communities holding steady shares while the remainder of the literature, comprising about 81% of recent research, also shows no significant shift. The window's most-cited paper, a 2017 study on lanthanum chloride inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokines, cited over 5,700 times, belongs to a community not detailed in the primary roster but underscores the element's broad reach. For a deeper look at the current state of play, see the element's Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.