Tin

Tin (Sn) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years

Research intensity has held steady at about 83% of the element's all-time peak, a level that has remained consistent since the 1999 peak fell outside this window.

Research intensity ran from about 81% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 83% in 2026 — essentially flat across the window, and the all-time peak (1999) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, tin has a larger-than-average research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 67,797 in 2016 to about 142,555 in 2025 (2.1x). 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 bulk of tin’s recent research is organized around three distinct material applications. The largest community, Tin Dioxide and ITO in Transparent Conductive Films, accounts for about 16% of the element's recent research and has remained steady. These papers focus on synthesizing and characterizing tin dioxide and indium tin oxide thin films for transparent conductive applications, with distinctive work on doped tin and zinc tin oxide films. Tin is one strand of a broader community, where about 19% of its papers involve tin. A key anchor in this field is a 2024 study on a synergy-enhanced hydrogen gas sensor using an amorphous silver catalytic layer and SnO2 sensitive layer, cited over 160 times.

The second major area is Tin Perovskites as Lead-Free Photovoltaic Alternatives, which holds about 15% of the element's recent research and has also remained steady. This community develops tin-based halide perovskites and tin oxide layers as non-toxic replacements for lead in solar cells, focusing on tin perovskite and tandem solar architectures. Tin is a minor presence in this much larger community, with about 6% of its papers involving tin. The work is anchored by a 2021 Nature paper on perovskite solar cells with atomically coherent interlayers on SnO2 electrodes, cited over 3,100 times, and a 2022 Science paper on conformal quantum dot–SnO2 layers as electron transporters, cited over 1,300 times.

A smaller, steady community, Tin Thin Film Coatings for Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates, represents about 3% of the element's recent research. This slice focuses on depositing tin coatings and multilayers on bipolar plates to enhance corrosion resistance in fuel cells, with distinctive phrases including tin coatings and plasmonic tin. Tin is one strand of a broader community, where about 23% of its papers involve tin. A notable 2020 paper on an ultra-broadband solar absorber based on TiN nanodisk and Ti thin film structure, cited over 290 times, anchors this area.

Across the window, the composition of tin’s research has remained remarkably stable. The three named communities have all held steady shares, while the remainder of the literature—comprising other smaller research communities—has also remained steady at about 65% of the total.

The most-cited paper of the window, a 2017 review on nanoparticles, properties, and toxicities, cited over 6,800 times, belongs to a community not detailed in the primary roster but highlights the broad relevance of tin-based materials in chemical applications.

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