Carbon Nanotube Materials Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has flattened, not grown. Annual filings rose from 305 in 2017 to a peak of 522 in 2024, but 2022's 463 sits close to that peak — the technology's core claim space is being re-filed more than expanded.
- Battery integration is now a quarter of the corpus. 1,242 records sit in H01M (batteries, cells & fuel cells), rivaling the traditional polymer-additive base in C08K and C08L — dispersion and conductive-network claims are being re-purposed for electrodes.
- China leads filing volume, but collaboration is Japan-centric. China's 1,714 filings top the receiving-office count, yet the strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset links two Japanese ink and pigment makers at 109 shared families.
What this landscape covers
Carbon nanotube materials patents in this dataset span dispersion, chirality control, purification and conductive-network claims across 5,956 patent families filed between 2017 and mid-2026. The search combines core CNT material terms with process- and property-specific claim language, then restricts to three IPC anchors — C01B32 (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds), B82Y30 (nanotechnology applications) and C08K3 (polymer additives) — so the corpus captures both materials-science and formulation-side filings rather than device claims alone.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in any trend chart understate real filing activity; treat the most recent two data points as a floor, not a ceiling. Family-level counting also matters here: CNT patenting has historically involved dense continuation filing in a handful of jurisdictions, so raw document counts would overstate concentration at the top relative to what family-level ranking shows.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the 5,956 families split across the IPC subclasses that define the technology's application boundaries.
A decade of flat-to-declining growth
Filings climbed from 305 in 2017 toward a peak of 522 in 2024, but the 2022 midpoint of 463 is already close to that peak — this is a mature filing curve with periodic upticks, not sustained expansion. Expect the 2025–2026 figures to revise upward as publication catches up.
Materials claims still outweigh device integration
C01B (3,857 records) and B82Y (2,159) together anchor the corpus in core nanotube chemistry and nanotechnology application claims, while C08K and C08L (1,731 and 1,259) show the polymer-composite route remains heavily claimed. H01M's 1,242 records confirm battery integration as a distinct and sizeable branch rather than a niche extension.
Shares are the percentage of the 5,956 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Carbon Nanotube Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about carbon nanotube materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Carbon nanotube dispersion liquid, laminate, method of producing carbon nanotube dispersion liquid, and method of producing carbon film
Provided is a carbon nanotube dispersion liquid that can cause an electrode for a secondary battery to display strong peel strength between an electrode mixed material layer and a current collector formed of a metal or the like, that can cause a releasable substrate-attached electrode mixed material layer to display weak peel strength between an electrode mixed material layer and a releasable substrate formed of a resin or the like, and that can cause a secondary battery to display excellent rate characteristics, or that enables the achievement of good film formation properties during carbon film formation.Filed by Zeon Corporation, published 2025 — sits at the intersection of the dispersion and battery-integration branches this dataset shows growing together.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20030096104A1 | Carbon nanotube complex molded body and the method of making the same | 258 |
| 2 | US20060052509A1 | Composition containing carbon nanotubes having coating thereof and process for producing them | 257 |
| 3 | US20130045427A1 | Prelithiated current collector and secondary lithium cells containing same | 218 |
| 4 | US20110124483A1 | Ceramic composite materials containing carbon nanotube-infused fiber materials and methods for production the… | 200 |
| 5 | JP2003012939A | Carbon-containing resin composition, molding material and molded product | 184 |
| 6 | US6756025B2 | Method for growing single-wall carbon nanotubes utilizing seed molecules | 178 |
| 7 | US20090272935A1 | Aligned Carbon Nanotube Bulk Aggregate, Process for Producing The Same and Uses Thereof | 173 |
| 8 | US20070215841A1 | Composite Materials Comprising Carbon Nanotubes and Metal Carbonates | 173 |
| 9 | WO1998005920A1 | Macroscopically manipulable nanoscale devices made from nanotube assemblies | 170 |
| 10 | US20080088219A1 | Transparent carbon nanotube electrode using conductive dispersant and production method thereof | 151 |
Citation counts favour older filings by construction — a searched corpus accumulates citations over time, so these numbers signal historical influence on the field, not which claims matter most today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns in this corpus matter more than the headline family count when deciding where to file or where to look for freedom to operate.
Growth has plateaued, not compounded
The gap between the 2022 midpoint (463) and the 2024 peak (522) is small relative to a decade of activity. New entrants are more likely to be re-claiming known dispersion and purification chemistry than opening new ground.
Battery integration is the fastest-growing application context
With 1,242 records in H01M against a base of C01B and B82Y materials claims, conductive-network and dispersion patents are increasingly written with electrode and current-collector use cases in the claim language itself.
China leads volume; the US and EPO remain close behind
China's receiving-office count outpaces the United States, but the three-way spread across China, the US and EPO (894) suggests no single jurisdiction has closed off the field — filing strategy still needs multi-region coverage.
Collaboration is concentrated among a small set of Japanese firms
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset pairs two Japanese ink and pigment specialists at 109 shared families — far above the next pairing at 60. Most of the corpus, though, shows single-assignee filing with only 10 co-assignee pairs recorded overall.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to carbon nanotube materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Filing activity concentrates among a handful of Japanese materials firms and Chinese research institutions, with momentum data showing several long-time filers pulling back in the most recent year.
Even active filers are flat
Tsinghua University recorded 1 filing in the latest year at 0% YoY change — modest but stable activity from one of the corpus's academic filers, in a year where several corporate filers show a full pullback.
Several established filers show zero recent output
LG Chem, Zeon Corporation and Toyo Ink Manufacturing each show 0 filings in the latest year against a -100% YoY change, consistent with publication lag rather than an actual stop in R&D.
Academic-industrial pairing at meaningful scale
The pairing of Tsinghua University with Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) at 60 shared families is the second-strongest co-assignee link in the dataset, pointing to a sustained joint programme rather than one-off co-filing.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Tsinghua University | 1 | 0% |
| LG Chem | 0 | -100% |
| Zeon Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Toyo Ink Manufacturing | 0 | -100% |
| Furukawa Electric | 0 | — |
| Toyo Color Materials | 0 | -100% |
| National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) | 0 | — |
| Toray Industries | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking, or identifying a filing gap.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the gate branches
Chirality-selective purification and solvent-free dispersion show thinner filing density than the corpus's core claims — worth a targeted search before committing R&D spend there.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaTrack the battery-integration crossover
With 1,242 H01M records against a materials-heavy base, watch how dispersion and conductive-network claims are being rewritten for electrode use cases.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaMonitor the Japanese co-filing cluster
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset sits well above the rest — understanding what's shared between those two filers clarifies where joint IP strategy is concentrated.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about carbon nanotube materials patents
Filing in this corpus concentrates among Japanese materials and ink manufacturers alongside Chinese universities such as Tsinghua, rather than a single dominant holder. The strongest collaboration pattern links two Japanese ink and pigment firms with 109 shared patent families, well above any other pairing in the dataset. Because recent-year filings from several established assignees show a full pullback, current holdings likely understate real R&D activity pending publication.
Growth has flattened rather than continued to climb. Filings rose from 305 in 2017 to a peak of 522 in 2024, but the 2022 midpoint of 463 already sits close to that peak, indicating a mature filing curve with periodic upticks rather than sustained expansion. The 2025 and 2026 figures will revise upward as publication catches up with the roughly 18-month lag typical for this kind of data, so a genuine slowdown cannot yet be confirmed from the most recent two years alone.
China leads receiving-office volume at 1,714 filings, ahead of the United States at 1,400 and the European Patent Office at 894. Japan, the WIPO PCT route and South Korea follow at 482, 469 and 399 respectively, so filing strategy for this technology still needs to account for at least three major jurisdictions rather than one dominant venue. This spread suggests the field has not consolidated around a single regulatory or market centre.
Dispersion claims cover how carbon nanotubes are suspended or distributed within a solvent or matrix — critical for uniform conductive networks and consistent film or electrode properties. Purification claims instead address removing catalyst residue, amorphous carbon or unwanted tube structures after synthesis, which affects downstream chirality and conductivity. Both terms appear together in the claim-side search used to build this dataset, and thinner filing density in chirality-selective purification specifically suggests that sub-branch remains less claimed than dispersion methods overall.
Yes — 1,242 records in this corpus fall under IPC class H01M, covering batteries, cells and fuel cells, making battery integration one of the largest single application contexts alongside the traditional polymer-additive classes C08K and C08L. Recent representative filings, such as a 2025 Zeon Corporation dispersion-liquid patent aimed at secondary-battery electrode peel strength and rate characteristics, show dispersion chemistry being explicitly claimed for battery use cases. This crossover is worth tracking closely if evaluating either the materials or the battery side of the field.
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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.