Advanced Oxidation Process Materials Patents: Trends & Leaders 2026
- Filing has peaked and cooled. 2024 marked the high point at 12 records after a slow climb from 2017; the 2022 midpoint of 5 shows growth was never steep to begin with.
- China dominates the filing venue. 53 of the tracked records were filed in China against 7 in the United States, so freedom-to-operate work has to start with the Chinese register.
- Catalysis claims outweigh separation claims by a wide margin. B01J catalysis appears in 52 records and C02F water treatment in 68, while separation (B01D) and cleaning (B08B) sit at just 5 each.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of advanced oxidation processes (AOP) and the materials that drive them — Fenton and photo-Fenton catalysts, TiO2 and related photocatalysts, and heterogeneous advanced oxidation catalysts classified under water treatment and catalysis codes. It spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, drawing on 72 patent families as the ranking unit rather than raw document counts, which keeps aggressive continuation filing and multi-jurisdiction duplication from skewing the picture.
The most recent filing year is always undercounted here: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures will keep rising as more applications publish. Read the trend line's shape, not its final year, as the reliable signal.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 72-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how those families split across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2024, with the 2022 midpoint at 5 records — a flat-to-declining trajectory rather than a steady climb, and the 2025-2026 tail is still filling in as later applications publish.
IPC subclass composition
C02F (water and wastewater treatment) covers 68 of 72 records and B01J (catalysis) covers 52, confirming this is fundamentally a catalytic water-treatment corpus. Separation (B01D), cleaning (B08B), mixing (B01F) and the remaining subclasses each register in single digits, marking them as adjacent rather than core to current claim activity.
Shares are the percentage of the 72 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Advanced Oxidation Process Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about advanced oxidation process advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe records other filings build on
US20060076299A1 — Bentonite clay-based iron nanocomposite as a heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst
The present invention provides a method of synthesizing bentonite clay-based Fe nanocomposite, that may be used as a heterogeneous photo Fenton catalyst in advanced oxidation processes (AOP's) for wastewater treatment.Filed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; published 2006-04-13. Its 48 citations make it the second most-cited record in this landscape and a foundational reference for clay-supported iron catalyst work.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6517804B1 | TiO2 ultrafine powder, and process for preparing thereof | 83 |
| 2 | US20060076299A1 | Synthesis of bentonite clay-based iron nanocomposite and its use as a heterogeneous photo fenton catalyst | 48 |
| 3 | CN104258860A | 表面改性纳米四氧化三铁芬顿催化剂及其制备方法 | 26 |
| 4 | CN107029720A | 负载型高级氧化催化材料及其制备方法 | 20 |
| 5 | CN108212192A | 一种光-芬顿催化剂及其制备方法 | 19 |
| 6 | CN109179594A | 核壳式铁碳微电解材料高效Fenton催化剂的制备及应用 | 14 |
| 7 | CN105688929A | 一种基于火山石为载体的中性高级氧化催化剂及其制备方法 | 10 |
| 8 | CN103433056A | 一种基于海泡石为载体的非均相Fenton催化剂及其制备方法 | 10 |
| 9 | CN106830209A | 一种提高焦化废水可生化性的方法 | 8 |
| 10 | WO2016020693A1 | Apparatus and methods for water treatment | 8 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four read-outs from the filing data that matter more than the headline family count.
Activity has already crested
Filings climbed from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2024, but the 2022 midpoint of only 5 shows this was never a steep growth curve. Treat the 2025-2026 dip as partial publication data, not a real slowdown yet.
China is the primary filing venue
China accounts for 53 records against 7 in the United States, 4 via WIPO/PCT, and 3 each in the UK and India. Any clearance search that stops at USPTO or EPO will miss most of the active claim space.
Catalysis inside water treatment, not separation
C02F (water treatment) and B01J (catalysis) dominate at 68 and 52 records respectively, while separation and cleaning codes sit at 5 each. The field is claimed almost entirely as catalytic chemistry embedded in treatment processes.
Filers mostly go it alone
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest being a tobacco-industry and university pairing filing jointly twice. Co-development filings are the exception here, not the norm.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to advanced oxidation process advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum has stalled
The assignee set is led by Chinese universities and research institutes, several of which show zero filings in the most recent tracked year — a signal that the current cohort's early filing bursts have already passed rather than that the field itself is closing.
University-led filing has gone quiet
Assignees including Kunming University of Science and Technology, Sichuan University and Nanjing University show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with some posting a -100% year-on-year drop. This reads as individual filing cycles ending rather than a sector-wide retreat.
Filing venue concentrates domestically
With 53 of 72 records filed in China, most institutional and corporate assignees are optimising for domestic protection first, using PCT or direct EPO/USPTO routes only selectively.
Joint filings are rare and localised
The strongest co-assignee link pairs a tobacco industry entity with a university on two joint filings; a second pair links a university with an affiliated environmental technology spinout on one filing. Cross-institution collaboration is not yet a structural feature of this landscape.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| GREENTHREAD LTD | 0 | — |
| Kunming University of Science and Technology | 0 | -100% |
| Sichuan University | 0 | — |
| Nanjing University | 0 | -100% |
| Southwest Minzu University | 0 | — |
| Zhejiang Zheneng Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Guangzhou Jiajing Water Treatment Technology Engineering Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| China Tobacco Guangdong Industrial Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you are clearing a design, scouting partners, or deciding where to file.
Run a China-first freedom-to-operate check
With 53 of 72 records filed in China, any clearance work that only searches USPTO or EPO databases is working from an incomplete picture of the active claim space.
Explore FTO workflows in EurekaWatch the stalled filers for licensing openings
Several leading university assignees show zero filings in the latest year. That can mean an opening for licensing or acquisition of dormant claim positions before a new entrant files around them.
Track assignee activity in EurekaLook past the most-cited records
The most-cited patents here date back to the 2000s and skew the influence picture toward older TiO2 and Fenton chemistry. Recent filings in narrower catalyst-support niches may be more relevant to a current design decision.
Search recent filings in EurekaCommon questions about AOP materials patents
Most filings in this space sit under C02F (water and wastewater treatment) and B01J (catalysis), which together account for the large majority of tracked records. Smaller adjacent classes include B01D for separation processes, B08B for cleaning, and B01F for mixing and stirring equipment. If you are drafting or searching claims, start with C02F and B01J combinations, since a filing classified only in the smaller adjacent codes is unlikely to be a core AOP catalyst claim.
The filing trend shows a peak of 12 records in 2024 after climbing from 3 in 2017, but the 2022 midpoint of only 5 records indicates the growth curve was never particularly steep. The apparent drop in 2025-2026 is partly an artefact of publication lag, since patent applications typically take around 18 months to publish after filing. Treat recent years as understated until later data cuts confirm the real trajectory.
China is by far the leading filing venue in this dataset, with 53 of 72 tracked records filed there, compared to 7 in the United States, 4 via the WIPO/PCT route, and 3 each in the UK and India. This concentration means competitive intelligence and freedom-to-operate searches focused only on US or European registers will miss most of the active filing activity in this field.
US20060076299A1 covers a method of synthesizing a bentonite clay-based iron nanocomposite for use as a heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst in advanced oxidation wastewater treatment, filed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. With 48 citations, it is one of the most-cited records in this landscape and is frequently referenced by later clay-supported and iron-based catalyst filings. It does not block all Fenton catalyst work, but any composition built on clay-supported iron nanocomposite chemistry should be checked against its specific synthesis and composition claims.
Yes — subclasses like B03C (magnetic/electrostatic separation), B09B (solid waste disposal) and C01B (non-metallic inorganic compounds) each register only a handful of records against the 68 in C02F and 52 in B01J. These adjacent branches, such as magnetically recoverable catalyst supports or solid-waste-derived catalyst carriers, are technically connected to the core AOP catalyst chemistry but carry far less filing density, making them plausible white space for a first-mover claim.
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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.