Bibliometric Trends in Virtual Education on Microbial Fuel Cells: Analysis of MOOCs and Their Impact on Sustainable Energy Teaching

Rojas-Flores S.; De La Cruz Noriega M.; Cabanillas-Chirinos L.; Otiniano N.M. · 2025 IEEE Digital Education and MOOCS Conference, DEMOcon 2025 (2025) · DOI: 10.1109/democon65705.2025.11282752

Resumen

The growing demand for sustainable energy solutions has spurred interest in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), emerging technologies capable of generating clean energy from organic waste. However, their integration into virtual education programs, particularly Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), remains limited and underexplored. This paper addresses the issue of the scarce presence and systematic analysis of MFCs on digital education platforms, despite their relevance for energy literacy and sustainable development. To this end, a bibliometric analysis was conducted based on 41 publications extracted from the Scopus database (1998-2025), using tools such as VOSviewer to map keyword co-occurrence, international collaboration networks, influential authors, and prominent scientific journals. The search strategy included terms related to MFCs, virtual education, and sustainable energy. The results reveal a growing integration of MFCs in MOOCs, with special emphasis on innovative pedagogical approaches such as gamification and adaptive methodologies. Although the academic output is predominantly led by authors from Iran and Tunisia, significant potential has been identified to expand international collaboration. Furthermore, key journals such as Bioresource Technology and Sustainability were recognized as major repositories of the relevant literature. The study also highlights thematic gaps and challenges, including low geographical representation and limited participation on educational platforms.

Instituciones: Universidad César Vallejo