Conductive Adhesives for Solar Interconnection: Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled since a 2020 peak of 14 records, with the most recent full years well below that mark — a maturing, not growing, claim space.
- C09J adhesive chemistry and H01B conductor claims dominate, appearing in 53 and 46 of 94 families respectively, while H02S-classified solar-specific filings number just 6.
- United States receiving offices lead with 33 filings, but EPO and WIPO/PCT together account for 32 more, showing this is contested across multiple jurisdictions, not just one.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 94 patent families filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine electrically conductive adhesive chemistry with solar cell interconnection use cases — spanning shingled module architectures, heterojunction cell contacts, and low-temperature interconnect methods. The search string anchors on adhesive and interconnect terminology cross-referenced against reliability and silver-content claim language, then filters to C09J, H01L31 and H01B1 classifications.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the trend chart are undercounts rather than a genuine falloff — but the decline visible from the 2020 peak through the mid-2020s predates that lag effect and reflects real filing behaviour.
The record set draws from six receiving offices, with the United States, Europe and the PCT route carrying most of the volume. Read alongside the IPC composition, this points to a technology area where the underlying adhesive and conductor chemistry is claimed broadly across formulation patents, while dedicated solar-cell-specific filings (H02S) remain comparatively thin.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 94-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim volume.
A 2020 peak followed by a flatter, declining run
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 14 in 2020, then eased back; the 2022 midpoint sits at just 1 filing, and 2026 (partial) shows 0 — consistent with a field that front-loaded its core claims earlier in the decade rather than one still accelerating.
Adhesive and conductor chemistry outweigh solar-specific classes
C09J (adhesives, 53 records) and H01B (conductors and insulators, 46 records) are the two largest subclasses, well ahead of H05K (printed circuits, 27) and H01L (semiconductor devices, 26). H02S, the dedicated photovoltaic classification, appears in only 6 records — most of the claim activity here originates in general adhesive and conductor chemistry rather than solar-specific engineering.
Shares are the percentage of the 94 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Conductive Adhesives for Solar Cell Interconnection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about conductive adhesives for solar cell interconnection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaFoundational filings and a recent shingled-module entrant
EP4557377A1 — Photovoltaic shingled arrangement and manufacturing method
The filing discloses a photovoltaic shingled module in which cell sheets are connected via a sheet conductive connection material rather than a conventional electrically conductive adhesive. Metal wires on front and back surfaces cover seed-layer fingers, and adjacent cell sheets in the string are joined through this sheet material, whose position can be varied by layout, forming a stable electrical connection between cells.Filed by Changzhou Shichuang Energy Co. Ltd, published 2025-05-21 — illustrates a design-around of adhesive-based interconnection using a solid conductive sheet in place of a paste or film adhesive.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5084107A | Solar cell and solar cell array with adhered electrode | 178 |
| 2 | US20070131912A1 | Electrically conductive adhesives | 151 |
| 3 | US4696764A | Electrically conductive adhesive composition | 125 |
| 4 | US4686323A | Multiple cell, two terminal photovoltaic device employing conductively adhered cells | 113 |
| 5 | US5151373A | Method of making a solar cell electrode | 48 |
| 6 | WO2001023466A1 | Electrically conductive adhesive containing epoxide-modified polyurethane | 35 |
| 7 | US20090186219A1 | Elecrically conductive adhesive | 31 |
| 8 | US6740192B1 | Joining electroconductive materials with electroconductive adhesive containing epoxide-modified polyurethane | 28 |
| 9 | JP1991234778A | Electrically conductive adhesive | 28 |
| 10 | WO2008048207A2 | Electrically conductive adhesives | 25 |
Citation counts inside any searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — treat the ranking as a signal of foundational influence, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers signal for filing strategy
Three read-throughs from the trend, classification and citation data that matter more for a filing decision than the raw counts alone.
The core claim space front-loaded early
Filing peaked at 14 records in 2020 and has since declined toward single digits, with the 2022 midpoint at just 1. Even accounting for publication lag understating 2025-2026, the multi-year decline from the peak suggests foundational adhesive-and-interconnect claims were staked out earlier in the decade.
Chemistry claims outnumber solar-specific engineering nearly 9 to 1
The bulk of claim volume sits in general adhesive (C09J) and conductor (H01B) classifications rather than dedicated photovoltaic classification H02S. This means much of the enforceable IP here originates from adhesive formulation portfolios, not standalone solar-cell patent programmes.
No single office dominates the filing map
The United States leads but does not run away with it — EPO and WIPO/PCT combined match the US count. Any freedom-to-operate review needs to clear all three routes, not just a US search.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to conductive adhesives for solar cell interconnection, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | INABA AKIRA | 2 |
| Henkel AG & Co. KGaA | HENKEL (CHINA) CO LTD | 1 |
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across 94 families, indicating this is overwhelmingly a single-assignee filing pattern rather than one built on joint development or cross-licensing arrangements.
Who holds the claim space
Recent-year momentum across the named assignees shows zero latest-year filings across the board — a sign that even active historical filers have paused rather than accelerated in this niche.
Established filers have gone quiet
Henkel shows a -100% year-on-year change with 0 filings in the latest year, and the same zero-filing pattern repeats across the other named assignees tracked for momentum — 3M, Standard Oil, and others show no latest-year activity either.
Filing is almost entirely solo
With only two co-assignee pairs identified across the full dataset, joint filings are the exception. Most organisations here — from materials majors to smaller specialty chemical filers — are pursuing this claim space independently.
A genuinely international filing footprint
Assignees are filing across at least six receiving offices, from the US and Europe through to India and Japan. That spread matters for any competitor doing freedom-to-operate work, since clearance in one jurisdiction says little about exposure in another.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Henkel AG & Co. KGaA | 0 | -100% |
| Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Foundation | 0 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Company | 0 | — |
| Soliko Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Standard Oil Company | 0 | — |
| Osaka Soda Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | — |
| Toyo Aluminium K.K. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a claim space that peaked mid-decade and is now testing design-arounds like sheet conductive connectors. Two directions are worth pursuing next.
Run a freedom-to-operate check across the three lead jurisdictions
With filing spread across US, EP and WIPO/PCT routes roughly evenly, a clearance search limited to one office will miss real exposure. Cross-reference active families in all three before committing to a formulation.
Explore FTO workflows in EurekaMap the H02S white space against C09J chemistry claims
The gap between broad adhesive chemistry filings and thin solar-specific H02S coverage suggests room for narrowly drawn claims tied to shingled-module or heterojunction-specific applications.
Map white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset shows a peak of 14 filings in 2020 followed by a decline toward single digits by the 2022 midpoint. This pattern is typical of a claim space where the core formulation and interconnection methods were staked out early, leaving later filers to pursue narrower improvements rather than foundational claims. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the most recent one to two years are undercounted, but the multi-year decline predates that effect and reflects a genuine slowdown in new filing.
The assignee ranking in this landscape (rendered separately from this text) shows filing concentrated among a mix of adhesive chemistry majors and specialty materials firms, alongside solar module manufacturers. Recent-year momentum data shows zero latest-year filings across every named assignee tracked, including established filers like Henkel and 3M, suggesting the most active historical filers have all pulled back simultaneously rather than one losing ground to another.
Conductive adhesives are typically pastes or films applied between cell sheets to form both a mechanical bond and an electrical path, and dominate the C09J and H01B classifications in this dataset. A more recent design-around, illustrated by EP4557377A1, replaces the adhesive layer with a solid sheet conductive connection material whose position can be varied by layout, aiming to form a more stable electrical connection without relying on adhesive chemistry directly.
Only 6 of the 94 families carry the H02S photovoltaic classification, compared with 53 in C09J and 46 in H01B. This indicates that most of the enforceable claim scope in this area sits in general adhesive formulation and conductor material patents rather than in patents purpose-built for photovoltaic devices. For a competitor, this means clearance searches need to extend well beyond solar-specific patent classes into broader adhesive and conductor portfolios.
Citation counts in this corpus are led by older filings such as US5084107A and US4696764A, both from well before the 2015 dataset window's core activity, because older patents have simply had more time to accumulate citations. That makes citation rank a good indicator of foundational or frequently-referenced prior art, but a poor indicator of which technology is commercially active now — for that, the recent-year filing and momentum data are more informative.
Research Conductive Adhesives for Solar Cell Interconnection in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole conductive adhesives for solar cell interconnection corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.