We selected literature from the core collection of the Web of Science (WOS) database as the research object and used visualization bibliometric software to analyse the 1313 collected studies. We found that the research on the graphene-based adsorption of heavy metals from wastewater has received widespread attention in various countries around the world, especially developing countries, since 2015, and Chinese researchers have made significant contributions. The adsorption mechanisms, adsorbent materials, and advanced adsorption techniques for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater by graphene have been the focus and hotspots in the research in this field in recent years. Heavy metal removal from wastewater with graphene has strong application potential. In the future, researchers in this area can focus on exploring issues such as “new materials,” “recyclability,” and “interdisciplinarity” to break through existing technological bottlenecks, supplement the technical research and development of graphene materials, and promote advances in this field.

Research progress on heavy metals removal by graphene from wastewater
    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Research methods
    3 Results and discussion
        3.1 Analysis of trends in published papers
        3.2 Analysis of article output characterization
            3.2.1 Analysis of publishing countries
            3.2.2 Institutional analysis
            3.2.3 Author analysis
            3.2.4 Journal analysis
        3.3 Analysis of research hotspots
            3.3.1  Keyword network analysis
        3.4 Analysis of research trends
            3.4.1  Research frontiers
            3.4.2  Research trends
    4 Conclusion and outlook
        4.1 Research conclusions
        4.2 Theoretical contributions
    5 Research limitations and prospects
    References

• Zhu Ying(School of Materials, Henan Institute of Technology, Xinxiang 453003, China) Corresponding author
• Zhang Aimin(School of Materials, Henan Institute of Technology, Xinxiang 453003, China)
• Lv Zhiqiang(Xinxiang No.1 High School, Xinxiang 543003, China)