Alkaline Electrolyzer Catalyst Patent Landscape 2026
- Small, flat field. only 22 patent families sit inside this claim set, with filings peaking at 7 in 2025 rather than showing sustained growth.
- Ownership is split, not consolidated. the strongest co-filing pair links a Korean materials firm to two Yonsei University entities, and every assignee tracked shows zero filings in the latest year.
- Claims spill outside the core electrolyzer class. C25B carries only 19 of 22 records; B01J, H01M and even G21F (radiation shielding) each pick up a meaningful share.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families whose title or abstract names an alkaline electrolyzer, alkaline water electrolysis, or AWE process, combined with claim language around a non-precious, nickel-based, OER or HER catalyst, and classified under C25B11 (electrolytic cells), C25B11/091, or B01J23 (catalysis on metals and metal oxides). It is a narrow, claim-anchored slice: 22 families total, not a general hydrogen-economy search.
Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the trend chart are undercounts of actual filing activity — treat the apparent 2025 peak as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 22-family corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings were at zero in 2017, climbed to a midpoint of 5 by 2022, and peaked so far at 7 in 2025 before the partial, still-accumulating 2026 count. There is no clean upward curve here — activity is lumpy and small-sample, consistent with a niche claim area rather than a maturing one.
IPC subclass composition
C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) anchors 19 of 22 records, as expected for an electrolyzer search. But B01J (catalysis, 10 records), H01M (batteries and fuel cells, 9) and G21F (radiation protection, 7) each carry enough weight to signal that catalyst claims here are being drafted alongside fuel-cell integration and, in a smaller cluster, shielding/containment contexts rather than as electrolysis-only inventions.
Go deeper on Alkaline Electrolyzer Catalyst with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about alkaline electrolyzer catalyst and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records
AU2016281251A1 — Water treatment system using alkaline water electrolysis device and alkaline fuel cell
Provided is a water treatment system using an alkaline water electrolysis device and an alkaline fuel cell that, by continuing electrolysis treatment: efficiently circulate and use, in the water treatment system, the hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, water in an amount corresponding to the water feedstock that disappears as a result of the electrolysis, and electrolyte solution that are necessary in the alkaline water electrolysis device and the alkaline fuel cell; and significantly reduce the electric power used.Filed by DE NORA PERMELEC LTD; this AU filing is one of two related family members (with US10622659B2) that both surface among the most-cited records in this corpus.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EP3312304A1 | Water treatment system using alkaline water electrolysis device and alkaline fuel cell | 5 |
| 2 | US20230017721A1 | Graphene-Transition Metal Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction | 4 |
| 3 | WO2025155611A1 | High performance transition metal based nitride catalysts for alkaline water electrolysis | 2 |
| 4 | US11725292B2 | Bifunctional porous non-noble metal phosphide catalyst for overall water splitting and methods of making and … | 1 |
| 5 | US10622659B2 | Water treatment system using alkaline water electrolysis device and alkaline fuel cell | 1 |
Citation counts here are drawn from a 22-family corpus filed mostly since 2015, so they favour earlier filings that have simply had more time to accumulate citations — read them as influence markers, not as a current-relevance ranking.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (5 of 5 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four readings of the same 22-family dataset, each pointing to a different decision a filing team would need to make.
This is a small claim space
With only 22 patent families across more than a decade of coverage, alkaline-electrolyzer catalyst claims are far from crowded compared to broader hydrogen-catalysis searches. That makes freedom-to-operate analysis tractable, but it also means a handful of well-drafted claims can cover disproportionate ground.
Growth is flat, not rising
Filings sat at zero in 2017, reached a midpoint of 5 by 2022, and only touched a peak of 7 in 2025. There is no multi-year acceleration visible in the data, which argues against treating this as a fast-growing subfield right now — publication lag aside.
Catalyst claims cross into fuel cells and shielding
Only 19 of 22 records sit in the core electrolytic-production class. Nine touch H01M (fuel cells) and seven touch G21F (radiation protection), suggesting a meaningful share of filings bundle the catalyst claim with a downstream system or a shielding/containment use case rather than claiming the catalyst in isolation.
Collaboration is thin and academic-linked
Only three co-assignee pairs appear in the whole corpus, and the strongest one links a Korean materials company to two Yonsei University entities. There is no dominant industrial consolidator visible yet — filings look more like scattered single-assignee or university-partnered efforts.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to alkaline electrolyzer catalyst, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Hanwha Solutions Corporation | Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University | 2 |
| Hanwha Solutions Corporation | Yonsei University | 2 |
| Hanwha Solutions Corporation | UI (UNIVERSITY IND FOUNDATION) YONSEI UNIVERSITY | 1 |
The only recurring co-filing relationship in this dataset pairs 韩华思路信(株) with Yonsei University research units, appearing across three of the corpus's co-assignee pairs — everything else in the ranking files alone.
Who is filing, and how actively
Every tracked assignee shows zero filings in the latest year, which is consistent with the small, lumpy trend above rather than a sign that any single player has withdrawn from the space.
迪诺拉永久电极股份有限公司 (De Nora Permelec)
Holds one of the most-cited representative filings in this corpus, covering an alkaline water electrolysis and fuel cell water-treatment system, but shows no filings in the most recent tracked year.
韩华思路信(株) (Hanwha Solutions)
The most collaborative assignee in the dataset, pairing twice with 延世大学校产学协力团 and 延世大学校 and once with the Yonsei University Industry Foundation, though its own recent-year filing count is also flat.
休斯顿大学系统 (University of Houston System)
The only assignee in the tracked group with an explicit year-on-year decline figure attached, dropping to zero filings in the latest year after prior activity.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| De Nora Permelec Ltd | 0 | — |
| Hanwha Solutions Corporation | 0 | — |
| Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University | 0 | — |
| Yonsei University | 0 | — |
| University of Houston System | 0 | -100% |
| Northeastern University | 0 | — |
| VOLTA ENERGY | 0 | -100% |
| INDIAN INST OF TECHNOLGOY ROORKEE | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a small, unconsolidated field with specific claim gaps — the next step is turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the phosphide and nitride clusters
US11725292B2's bifunctional phosphide claim and WO2025155611A1's nitride claim are the two most recent cited filings in the corpus; either could sit close to new nickel-based catalyst work.
Explore in EurekaMap the Hanwha–Yonsei co-filing cluster before entering Korea
With three of three co-assignee pairs anchored on this relationship, it is the only visible industrial-academic pipeline in the dataset worth watching for follow-on filings.
Explore in EurekaWatch for the 2025-2026 filing lag to resolve
The 2025 peak of 7 filings is likely to be revised upward as later-filed applications publish; re-pull the trend in six to twelve months before concluding the field has plateaued.
Explore in EurekaFrequently asked questions
Within the specific claim scope tracked here — non-precious, nickel-based, OER or HER catalysts classified under C25B11 or B01J23 and described in the context of alkaline water electrolysis — there are 22 patent families covering filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. This is a narrow slice of the broader hydrogen-catalysis literature, defined by both title/abstract keywords and IPC classification, so a differently scoped search would return a different total. Families, rather than raw publication counts, are the fairer unit because they strip out duplicate continuations and multi-jurisdiction copies of the same invention.
The trend is flat rather than clearly rising: filings were at zero in 2017, reached a midpoint of 5 by 2022, and peaked so far at 7 in 2025. There is no multi-year acceleration pattern in the data. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are likely undercounts that will rise as pending applications publish, but even accounting for that lag the corpus does not show the steep growth curve associated with a fast-emerging subfield.
No single assignee dominates this corpus. The clearest pattern is collaborative rather than competitive: 韩华思路信(株) (Hanwha Solutions) appears in all three tracked co-assignee pairs, twice alongside Yonsei University's technology transfer arm and once with the university's industry foundation. De Nora Permelec holds one of the most-cited representative filings. Every assignee tracked in the recent-year momentum data shows zero filings in the latest year, which is more a symptom of the field's small overall size than evidence that any one player has exited.
AU2016281251A1, assigned to De Nora Permelec, claims a water treatment system that combines an alkaline water electrolysis device with an alkaline fuel cell, designed to circulate the hydrogen, oxygen, water and electrolyte generated and consumed by electrolysis so that overall electric power use is reduced. It is a system-level claim covering the integration and recycling loop between the electrolyzer and fuel cell, not a catalyst-composition claim in isolation. A related family member, US10622659B2, covers essentially the same invention and also appears among the most-cited records in this corpus.
The IPC composition points to under-claimed intersections rather than the core catalyst claim itself: nanostructured catalyst coatings (B82Y overlap, only 2 of 22 records), catalyst-integrated fuel cell water recycling systems, and bifunctional non-noble metal phosphide or nitride catalysts for combined OER/HER activity all show thin coverage relative to the core nickel-based catalyst claims in C25B and B01J. These are the sub-areas worth a dedicated prior-art search before drafting a new claim, since the existing 22-family corpus leaves them comparatively open.
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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.