Rhenium

Rhenium (Re) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Rhenium’s research intensity currently stands at about 44% of its all-time peak, a level that has steadily declined over the last decade.

Research intensity ran from about 55% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 44% in 2026 — a steady decline, and the all-time peak (1969) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements fell. Among the 118 elements, rhenium has a mid-sized research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 1,611 in 2016 to about 3,085 in 2025 (1.91x). 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 bulk of rhenium’s recent research is distributed across a wide array of specialized areas, with the "Other research communities" band holding about 71% of the element's recent research, a share that has risen from about 65% in the previous period. Three specific communities, however, define the element's most distinct contributions. The largest named group is Rhenium Dichalcogenides in Two-Dimensional Optoelectronics, which accounts for about 13% of the element's recent research and has remained steady. Here, rhenium is a minor presence in a much larger community—about 1% of its papers involve rhenium—focusing on synthesizing and characterizing monolayer rhenium disulfide and diselenide for use in field-effect transistors and nonlinear optical applications. A key paper in this area, "High-Precision Multibit Opto-Electronic Synapses Based on ReS2/h-BN/Graphene Heterostructure," published in 2025, has been cited about 78 times.

A second significant area is Rhenium Tricarbonyl Complexes in Luminescent Materials, representing about 9% of the element's recent research, also steady. In this context, rhenium is a minor presence in a much larger community—about 5% of its papers involve rhenium—distinct from the dominant iridium-based emitters. The work centers on the synthesis and photophysical properties of luminescent rhenium tricarbonyl complexes. Notably, "Anticancer and Antibiotic Rhenium Tri- and Dicarbonyl Complexes: Current Research and Future Perspectives" (2022) has been cited about 86 times.

The third named community is Rhenium Tricarbonyl Complexes for Radiolabeled Therapeutics, holding about 7% of the element's recent research and remaining steady. Rhenium is a minor presence here as well—about 4% of its papers involve rhenium—serving as stable analogues for technetium-based cancer imaging and therapy. The field is anchored by "Rhenium-188 Labeled Radiopharmaceuticals: Current Clinical Applications in Oncology and Promising Perspectives" (2019), which has been cited over 150 times.

For a deeper look at rhenium’s current standing, consult the element's Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.