The treatment of refractory wastewater pollutants requires advanced materials capable of synergistic enrichment and destruction. Cellulose-based aerogels, combining biomass sustainability with a porous structure, are a promising platform, yet a quantitative synthesis of this field’s evolution is lacking. This study presents the first bibliometric and visual analysis of 463 publications on cellulose-based aerogels for wastewater treatment. The field shows S-shaped growth, evolving from a Nascent phase to Exponential Growth and now entering Maturation. Social network analysis reveals a China-centered but increasingly international collaboration pattern, while institutional productivity remains fragmented into multiple small research teams. The foundation rests on two synergistic pillars: adsorptive sequestration and catalytic degradation, with research evolving from their parallel development to active fusion. Current frontiers focus on sustainable system engineering, emphasizing process integration, material regeneration, and advanced precursors like cellulose nanofiber. This analysis maps the field’s maturation from material exploration toward integrated catalytic system design, providing a foundational reference and clear directives for future research to address integration challenges. In addition to bibliometric mapping, this review critically discusses treatment functions (adsorption, catalytic oxidation, and integrated pathways) and deployment barriers (regeneration, recyclability, and scale-up feasibility), thereby linking knowledge evolution to practical wastewater-treatment translation. While China contributes the largest publication share in the present dataset, the field is supported by increasing participation from multiple countries and regions.

AlSb film has attracted attention for its excellent properties, and many preparation methods have been explored. Herein, AlSb thin films were prepared by the DC magnetron co-sputtering method, and the interfacial behavior between the films and air molecules was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) testing, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate the deliquescence process of AlSb thin films and its underlying mechanism. The results revealed that AlSb thin films exhibited Sb₂O₄ and Sb₂O₅ phases, while the thin films doped Cu no longer showed any Sb oxide phases after the film was exposed to air for one day. The chemical state of aluminum in the film remained stable along the depth direction, whereas antimony exhibited a pronounced gradient in chemical state from the surface to the interior. The oxidation state of Sb ions varied from −3 in the interior to +5 at the surface. The interaction between the (111) crystal plane of the AlSb film and air molecules is an exothermic process, with water molecules exhibiting the highest adsorption energy on the film surface, followed by oxygen molecules. The adsorption energies for nitrogen and carbon dioxide molecules were the lowest. Consequently, AlSb molecules readily combine with H₂O molecules. Furthermore, doping the AlSb film with copper or zinc atoms effectively reduced the adsorption energy for water and oxygen molecules, offering a new approach to suppress the deliquescence and oxidation of AlSb thin films. This study provides an important theoretical foundation for subsequent research on this material system.

AlSb film has attracted the attention for its excellent properties, and many preparation methods have been explored. Herein, AlSb thin films were prepared by DC magnetron co-sputtering method and the interfacial behavior between the films and air molecules were investigated by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) testing and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidated the deliquescence process of AlSb thin films and its underlying mechanism. The results revealed that AlSb thin film exhibited Sb₂O₄ and Sb₂O₅ phases while the thin films doped Cu no longer showed any Sb oxide phases after the film exposed to air for one day. The chemical state of aluminum in the film remained stable along the depth direction, whereas antimony exhibited a pronounced gradient in chemical state from the surface to the interior. The oxidation state of Sb ions varied from -3 in the interior to +5 at the surface. The interaction between the (111) crystal plane of the AlSb film and air molecules is an exothermic process, with water molecules exhibiting the highest adsorption energy on the film surface, followed by oxygen molecules. The adsorption energies for nitrogen and carbon dioxide molecules were the lowest. Consequently, AlSb molecules readily combine with H₂O molecules. Furthermore, doping the AlSb film with copper or zinc atoms effectively reduced the adsorption energy for water and oxygen molecules, offering a new approach to suppress the deliquescence and oxidation of AlSb thin films. This study provides an important theoretical foundation for subsequent research on this material system.