AEM Electrolyzer Durability Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- A 2021 peak of 7 filings has not been repeated. the midpoint year 2022 fell back to 2, so the filing curve is flat-to-declining rather than building toward a new wave.
- One family, WO2021226119A1, carries 12 citations far ahead of anything else in this set, making its platinum-group-metal-free oxyhydroxide anode claims the reference point for anyone designing an OER electrode.
- Filings split almost evenly across six receiving offices India, Europe, Israel, Australia, Canada and China each hold a handful of records — no single jurisdiction dominates the way they typically do in mature electrolyzer fields.
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (1) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers and the specific reliability concerns that determine whether a stack survives industrial duty cycles: membrane durability, catalyst stability, degradation mitigation and long-term stability claims. The scope is deliberately narrow — it excludes general AEM electrolyzer filings that do not make a durability or stability claim, and it excludes proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) or alkaline electrolyzer prior art unless it is explicitly framed around AEM systems.
Twelve published families meet this definition between 2015 and the July 2026 cut-off. That is a small corpus by the standards of adjacent fields such as PEM electrolysis, and it means every filing carries more weight in shaping freedom-to-operate than it would in a crowded category. Publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the most recent year in the trend understates real filing activity.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same twelve families: when the claims were filed, and which IPC subclasses they sit in.
A single peak year, no sustained follow-through
Filings were at zero in 2017, rose to a peak of 7 in 2021, then fell back to 2 by the 2022 midpoint. With one filing recorded in 2026 so far, this reads as an early wave that has not yet reignited — worth watching for whether 2024-2026 filings (still publishing) restart growth.
Catalysis and electrolytic-production classes dominate
All twelve records sit in C25B (electrolytic production of compounds), and nine of the twelve also carry a B01J catalysis classification — confirming that catalyst stability, not membrane chemistry alone, is the主 focus of this corpus. Single records extend into C01B, C08J, C25D and H01M, marking isolated excursions into inorganic compound chemistry, polymer processing, electroplating and fuel-cell-adjacent claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 12 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Reliability and Durability with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about anion exchange membrane electrolyzer reliability and durability and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited family in this corpus
An anion exchange membrane electrolyzer having a platinum-group-metal free self-supported oxygen evolution electrode
Fluoride-containing nickel iron oxyhydroxide electrocatalysts for use as anodes in anion exchange membrane electrolyzers for generating hydrogen gas.Filed by the University of Delaware, published as WO2021226119A1 on 2021-11-11, and cited 12 times within this corpus — more than any other record here.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2021226119A1 | An anion exchange membrane electrolyzer having a platinum-group-metal free self-supported oxygen evolution el… | 12 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (1 of 1 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the filings are counted rather than skimmed.
A wave that has not repeated
Filing activity concentrated in a short window around 2021 and has not returned to that level since. That pattern is consistent with a technology still searching for its dominant catalyst chemistry rather than one converging on a settled design.
Catalyst stability drives the claims
Three-quarters of this corpus classifies in both C25B and B01J, meaning most inventors are claiming catalyst formulations or treatments alongside the electrolyzer architecture, not membrane chemistry in isolation.
No single jurisdiction anchors this field yet
India (3), Europe and Israel (2 each), and single filings in Australia, Canada and China show applicants still testing multiple markets rather than committing to one home jurisdiction for AEM durability claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to anion exchange membrane electrolyzer reliability and durability, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
With only twelve families in this corpus, no assignee has built a dense thicket — recent momentum is thin even for the most active filer.
The only assignee with a filing in the latest year
Institute of Nano Science and Technology recorded one filing in the most recent year tracked, making it the sole active filer while other named assignees show no filings in that window.
Holds the most-cited family, but filing has paused
University of Delaware's WO2021226119A1 anchors this corpus with 12 citations, yet the assignee shows no filing activity in the latest tracked year — its influence rests on a single strong family rather than a filing programme.
A steep pullback from prior activity
Shenzhen Wenshi Hydrogen Technology shows zero filings in the latest year against a -100% year-on-year change, indicating a filer that was active recently but has since gone quiet.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| INSTITUTE OF NANO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY | 1 | — |
| University of Delaware | 0 | — |
| Qingneng Ruilong Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Shenzhen Wenshi Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape narrows to twelve families for a reason — the definitions used to build it can be widened or split to answer more specific questions.
Compare against PEM electrolyzer durability filings
Running the same durability and stability query against PEM electrolyzer prior art would show whether AEM catalyst-stability claims are following, or diverging from, the more mature PEM catalyst literature.
Explore in EurekaTrack whether 2024-2026 filings restart the 2021 wave
Because publication lags filing by around eighteen months, the true shape of 2024-2026 activity is still forming. A follow-up pull in twelve months would show whether the peak year was an anomaly or the start of a new cycle.
Explore in EurekaMap catalyst-stability claims against the broader B01J corpus
Nine of twelve records already cross into B01J catalysis classification; a dedicated pull on catalyst degradation mitigation across electrolyzer types more broadly would clarify how specific these claims are to AEM systems.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
This dataset identifies twelve published patent families that specifically combine anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer claims with membrane durability, catalyst stability, degradation mitigation or long-term stability language, filed between 2015 and mid-2026. That is a small corpus compared with adjacent fields like PEM electrolysis, which means individual filings carry more weight for freedom-to-operate analysis. The count will rise as 2024-2026 applications continue publishing, since publication typically lags filing by about eighteen months.
University of Delaware holds the most-cited family in this corpus, WO2021226119A1, covering a platinum-group-metal-free oxyhydroxide anode. Institute of Nano Science and Technology is the only assignee shown with a filing in the most recent tracked year, while other named filers such as Shenzhen Wenshi Hydrogen Technology show no recent activity and a sharp year-on-year decline. No single assignee has built a dense filing programme yet — this remains a field with isolated strong filings rather than concentrated portfolios.
WO2021226119A1, assigned to University of Delaware and published in November 2021, claims fluoride-containing nickel iron oxyhydroxide electrocatalysts used as anodes in AEM electrolyzers for hydrogen generation, specifically framed as platinum-group-metal-free and self-supported. It is the most-cited record in this corpus by a wide margin, which signals that later filers are building on or designing around this specific catalyst chemistry. Anyone working on non-PGM oxygen evolution electrodes for AEM systems should review this family closely before finalising a catalyst composition.
Filing activity peaked at seven records in 2021 and had fallen to two by the 2022 midpoint, with only one filing recorded in 2026 so far. Taken at face value, this looks like a filing wave that has not sustained itself rather than a technology on a steady growth curve. However, because recent years are still publishing, it is too early to say definitively whether the field is genuinely slowing or simply under-reported for 2024-2026.
The corpus is heavily weighted toward catalyst stability, with nine of twelve records classified under B01J catalysis alongside the core C25B electrolytic-production classification. That leaves specific branches thinly claimed, including fluoride-doped catalyst variants beyond nickel-iron oxyhydroxide, AEM ionomer binder degradation under alkaline cycling, in-situ catalyst regeneration during operation, and membrane-electrode-assembly interfacial delamination mitigation. These adjacent areas see mentions in single records or IPC subclasses like C08J and C25D rather than dedicated claim sets.
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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.