Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Development Knowledge Map: A Review of Visual Analysis Using CiteSpace

Abstract

Achieving zero energy consumption in buildings is one of the most effective ways of achieving ‘carbon neutrality’ and contributing to a green and sustainable global development. Currently, BIPV systems are one of the main approaches to achieving zero energy in buildings in many countries. This paper presents the evolution of BIPV systems and predicts their future trends by deriving a base sample of core papers on BIPV systems from 2012 to 2022 from the Web of Science core database and conducting a bibliometric study using CiteSpace scientific visualisation software. To gain a deeper understanding and grasp of the research progress of BIPV systems, research group discovery, research hotspot analysis, and research frontier detection of the relevant literature were conducted. (1) Research groups on the topic were summarised through author coupling network, publication distribution, and country mapping analysis; (2) Research hotspots on the topic were explored through keyword co-occurrence, keyword emergence, and time zone map analysis; (3) Research hotspots on the topic were explored through literature co-citation timeline maps, literature co-citation categories, and literature co-citation clustering analysis to detect the frontiers of research in the field. Finally, we conclude that research trends in BIPV systems are mainly in the areas of heat transfer, thermal performance, renewable energy, solar cell and renewable building materials, and evaluation systems. In the future, BIPV research and applications will move towards interdisciplinary and multinational cooperation, which will maximise the benefits of clean energy conversion in buildings. It will also provide researchers and practitioners with a clearer understanding of BIPV research trends and hotspots, and provide new directions for future research.