The use of montmorillonite has been investigated as a delivery system for active substances and few studies report discussions and visualization of publications on this topic. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore related research fields from a bibliometric perspective, characterize current trends, and present visual representations of the last decades. In this study, the analysis of the publications was performed using the RStudio v.1.3.959 software and the R programming language from the Bibliometrix package. A total of 778 articles were analyzed. From 1976 to 2023, there was a tendency for publications to grow, with an increase of 217.39% in 10 years. China (195 publications and 4297 citations) and Nir S. (18 publications, 744 citations, 5 articles as last author) were the most productive and impactful country and author, respectively. The co-occurrence cluster analysis of the 50 keywords form clusters with “montmorillonite,” “adsorption,” and “controlled release” and clusters “nanoparticles,” “delivery,” and “nanocomposites,” which were the most used keywords. In a coupling cluster analysis, publications using montmorillonite with drugs achieved a much greater publishing impact than with other materials. Trends in publications allocate montmorillonite for the release of active substances considering the state of ionization, pH, modification by inclusion of organic compounds, water displacement, change in interlamellar characteristics, use of chitosan, and alginate forming nanocomposites, microsphere, granules, nanoparticles, and adsorption, the last three being the most impactful. In this way a multifaceted material has composed formulations of substance delivery system.

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