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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/activated-carbon-electrode-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Batteries & Energy StorageActivated Carbon Electrode Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where Room Remains
A data-driven look at activated carbon electrode patents: who leads filing, how the technology mix breaks down across capacitor and battery classes, and where claim density leaves room to file.
1,224
Published Records
24%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+17%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth = 2021 (36 records) → 2024 (42); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 1,224 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
Activated carbon electrodes sit at the core of electric double-layer capacitors and hybrid supercapacitor-battery designs, where the electrode's pore structure and binder chemistry set the ceiling on energy density and cycle life. This landscape tracks 1,224 patent records published between 2015 and 2026 that claim an activated carbon electrode inside a capacitor context, filtered to IPC class H01G11. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so filing counts for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as more applications publish.
The dataset spans receiving offices in the United States, Japan, Europe, China, India and South Korea, giving a reasonably global read on where applicants seek protection rather than just where they are headquartered. Family-level counting, used throughout the assignee ranking, neutralises the effect of aggressive continuation filing or multi-jurisdiction duplicates, so the concentration figures below reflect distinct inventions rather than paperwork volume.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,224 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims fall into.
A steady climb with a mid-cycle peak
Annual filings rose from 37 in 2017 to a peak of 56 in 2018, then settled into a lower but still growing pattern — 36 records in 2021 climbing to 42 in 2024, a 17% increase over that span. 2026 shows only 12 records so far, which reflects publication lag rather than a real drop in activity.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Capacitor claims dominate, but batteries and inorganic chemistry follow
H01G (capacitors) appears in 99.8% of the 1,224 records, which is expected given the search scope. The more informative signal is that H01M (batteries, cells & fuel cells) reaches 20.5% and C01B (non-metallic elements & inorganic compounds, largely activated carbon production chemistry) reaches 16.5% — both far ahead of nanotechnology, coatings or power-grid classes, which each sit under 2%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,224 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Representative and most-cited prior art
Representative filing
US6327136B1 — Electrode-forming composition, activated carbon electrode and electric double layer capacitor
KUREHA CORPORATION
An electrode-forming composition for providing an activated carbon electrode for an electric double layer capacitor is provided by blending activated carbon, a vinylidene fluoride polymer and a solvent including a plasticizer in addition to a good solvent for the vinylidene fluoride polymer. By applying the electrode-forming composition onto an electroconductive substrate, and selectively removing the solvent preferably by a combination of extraction of the plasticizer with a poor solvent for the vinylidene-fluoride polymer and evaporation of the solvent, it is possible to obtain an activated carbon electrode (polarizable electrode) that has good properties.Filed by Kureha Corporation, granted 2001-12-04. Its claims to a plasticizer-assisted solvent extraction route for forming the activated carbon layer are a recurring reference point for later electrode-forming composition claims in this dataset.
Most-cited records in this landscape
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5953204A | Electric double layer capacitor | 153 |
| 2 | US6847517B2 | Polarizable electrode for electric double layer capacitor and methods for producing polarizable electrode and… | 148 |
| 3 | US5079674A | Supercapacitor electrode and method of fabrication thereof | 116 |
| 4 | US20080297981A1 | Capacitor | 107 |
| 5 | US6031712A | Electric double layer capacitor | 100 |
| 6 | US6339528B1 | Metal oxide electrode for supercapacitor and manufacturing method thereof | 86 |
| 7 | US20140177136A1 | Activated carbon, method for preparing the same, and electrochemical capacitor including the same | 75 |
| 8 | US20120134072A1 | Electrodes having multi layered structure and supercapacitor including the same | 75 |
| 9 | US20130330617A1 | Electrode foil, current collector, electrode, and electric energy storage element using same | 72 |
| 10 | US20040094741A1 | Ionic liquids, electrolyte salts for storage device, electrolytic solution for storage device, electric doubl… | 69 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four read-outs from the ranking, the trend and the technology split, aimed at where to look before drafting a new claim.
Concentration
23.7% of 1,224
top 5 combined share
No single owner controls the field
The leading assignee holds 161 records, but the top 5 combined reach only 23.7% of all 1,224 records in scope, and the top 10 reach 32.0%. That leaves roughly two-thirds of filings spread across a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants.
Ranked leaders, 100 companies
Growth
+17%
2021 to 2024
Filing is still rising, not flattening
Annual filings grew from 36 in 2021 to 42 in 2024, a 17% increase over that three-year span — the last window the dataset treats as complete. Earlier years peaked at 56 in 2018, so current activity sits below that peak but on an upward path again.
2024 is the most recent complete year
Cross-class overlap
20.5% of 1,224
also carry H01M
A hybrid battery-capacitor zone is active
One in five records classified under the capacitor-focused H01G11 search also carry an H01M battery classification, and 16.5% carry C01B inorganic chemistry codes tied to carbon activation processes. Claims that bridge electrode structure and carbon synthesis chemistry are where the two counts overlap.
IPC subclass shares, record-level
Jurisdiction spread
300 US filings
leading receiving office
Filing follows US, Japan and Europe first
The United States leads receiving offices with 300 filings, closely followed by Japan at 288 and the EPO at 163, with China, India and South Korea trailing. That ordering suggests protection strategy still centres on the three traditional capacitor markets ahead of broader Asian filing.
Receiving office counts, all records
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to activated carbon electrode patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a few directions worth following up before committing R&D or filing budget.
Map the hybrid battery-capacitor overlap
The 20.5% of records that carry both H01G and H01M classifications are a distinct design space worth its own claim search before drafting electrode structure claims that could read on either art.
Explore hybrid electrode filings in EurekaWatch the long tail for consolidation
With the top 10 assignees holding only 32.0% of records, freedom-to-operate work should track smaller filers and recent entrants rather than assuming the largest holders cover the field.
Track emerging assignees in EurekaRevisit carbon-activation chemistry claims
C01B's 16.5% share shows meaningful claim activity in activation chemistry sitting alongside electrode structure claims — a second search scoped to that subclass alone would sharpen the picture.
Run a C01B-scoped search in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about activated carbon electrode patents
Filing is concentrated at the top but not dominated by a single company: the leading assignee holds 161 of the 1,224 records in scope, and the top 5 assignees combined account for only 23.7% of all records. The top 10 combined reach 32.0%, which means roughly two-thirds of filings come from a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants. Names include established capacitor and battery manufacturers alongside university and materials-science filers, so a freedom-to-operate check needs to look well past the largest holders.
It is growing, based on the most recent complete window: annual filings rose from 36 in 2021 to 42 in 2024, a 17% increase. Filing did peak earlier, at 56 records in 2018, so current volume sits below that historical high but is trending upward again rather than declining. Counts for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, not because activity has stopped.
There is meaningful overlap: 20.5% of the 1,224 records in this capacitor-focused dataset also carry an H01M battery classification, and 16.5% carry C01B codes tied to inorganic carbon-activation chemistry. This points to a hybrid design zone where electrode structures originally developed for electric double-layer capacitors are being adapted for battery or battery-capacitor hybrid cells. Claims that bridge both classes deserve a dedicated prior-art check spanning both subclasses.
The United States leads receiving offices with 300 filings, followed by Japan at 288 and the European Patent Office at 163. China, India and South Korea follow at 110, 83 and 78 respectively. The ordering suggests that protection strategy in this field still centres on the traditional US-Japan-Europe capacitor markets, though the China and India volumes are large enough to warrant separate regional searches.
US6327136B1, assigned to Kureha Corporation and granted in 2001, claims an electrode-forming composition that blends activated carbon with a vinylidene fluoride polymer and a solvent system including a plasticizer, used to form the polarizable electrode layer of an electric double-layer capacitor. It matters because the specific solvent-extraction and evaporation route it claims for removing the plasticizer during electrode formation is a recurring reference point for later electrode-forming composition claims in this dataset. Anyone drafting a new electrode-forming process claim should check this filing's claim scope before relying on plasticizer-assisted extraction as a point of novelty.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Activated Carbon Electrode Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.