Antimony

Antimony (Sb) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Antimony’s research intensity currently sits at about 70% of its all-time peak, a level that has gradually declined from 79% at the start of this decade.

Research intensity ran from about 79% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 70% in 2026 — a net decline with recoveries along the way, and the all-time peak (1971) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements fell. Among the 118 elements, antimony has a mid-sized research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 3,584 in 2016 to about 9,187 in 2025 (2.56x). 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 largest share of antimony research belongs to the community of Antimony and Arsenic in Metallurgy, Water Treatment, and Leishmaniasis. Here, antimony is central to the work, appearing in about 40% of the community's papers. The research focuses on the element's speciation and management in complex environmental settings, such as antimony mines and water treatment. This community holds about 19% of antimony's recent research, a share that has remained steady over the last five years. A key paper in this area, "Antimony contamination and its risk management in complex environmental settings: A review" (2021), has been cited over 350 times, while a more recent study on using biochar composites to remove antimony from water (2024) has been cited about 88 times.

A second significant area is Antimony Chalcogenide Thin Films for Photovoltaics. In this field, antimony is a minor presence, comprising only about 3% of the broader community's work, but it accounts for about 11% of antimony-specific research. The focus is on using antimony sulfide, selenide, and selenosulfide materials as absorbers in thin-film solar cells. This share has been steady, having grown slightly from 7% to 11% over the period. Recent high-impact work includes a 2025 study in Advanced Materials on chelate engineering for efficient antimony selenosulfide solar cells, which has been cited about 71 times.

The third major community involves Antimonene Nanosheets and Plasmonic Properties. Antimony is a minor presence here, involved in about 1% of the community's papers, but it represents about 6% of antimony's research. This work explores the synthesis of antimonene nanosheets and their unique plasmon resonance properties in 2D heterostructures. While the share of antimony research in this area has been classified as steady, it has dipped from 10% to 6% over the window. The most cited paper in this group, "Recent progress in 2D group-VA semiconductors: from theory to experiment" (2017), has been cited over 860 times.

Overall, the composition of antimony research has remained relatively stable, with the metallurgy and environmental community holding the largest share, followed by photovoltaics and 2D materials. The remaining 64% of research is distributed across other smaller communities.

For a deeper look at the current state of antimony research, consult the Last 12 Months or Executive Brief reports.