Dead Lithium & Coulombic Efficiency Patents: Top Companies, Trends 2026
- 27.6% concentration at the top. The five most active assignees together hold 66 of 239 records in scope, with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants behind them.
- Filing has plateaued, not accelerated. Annual filings rose from 20 in 2017 to a peak of 39 in 2024, but 2022's midpoint of 32 shows the growth curve has flattened rather than kept climbing.
- China dominates the filing venue. 146 of the tracked records were filed in China, more than six times the next largest single office, EPO at 24.
What this landscape covers
Dead lithium — electrically isolated lithium metal that no longer cycles — and the coulombic efficiency losses it causes are central obstacles to commercializing lithium metal anodes. This landscape tracks 239 patent records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that specifically address dead lithium formation, lithium plating morphology, and the electrolyte, pressure and porosity mechanisms tied to coulombic efficiency in lithium metal cells. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent filing year in this dataset understates actual activity.
The scope spans electrolyte additive chemistry, protective anode layers, mesh and composite interlayers, and diagnostic methods for measuring or reversing lithium loss. It excludes broader lithium-ion cathode and cell-format patents that do not name these specific failure mechanisms in their claims or description.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 239-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the underlying inventions actually sit in.
Filing trend: rising then flattening
Filings climbed from 20 in 2017 toward a peak of 39 in 2024. The 2022 midpoint of 32 sits well below that peak, indicating the growth curve leveled off rather than compounding — 2026's partial count of 7 is a cutoff artifact, not a decline signal on its own.
IPC composition: overwhelmingly H01M
H01M (batteries, cells & fuel cells) covers 95.4% of the 239 records in scope — effectively the entire field files under the core battery classification. The remaining classes are thin: C01B, C23C and G01N each sit at 1.7% or below, marking adjacent chemistry, coating and testing work that rarely becomes its own claim focus.
Shares are the percentage of the 239 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Dead Lithium and Coulombic Efficiency in Lithium Metal Cells with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about dead lithium and coulombic efficiency in lithium metal cells and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited and representative filings
US20250286127A1 — Electrolyte systems including electron withdrawing compounds with an alpha-beta motif for improving performance of lithium-based secondary batteries
The filing targets electrolyte systems addressing dendrite formation and dead lithium during stripping and plating, alongside thermal runaway and volumetric expansion, through a multi-pronged electrolyte redesign intended to produce synergistic performance gains.Filed by Lyten, Inc., published 2025-09-11 — illustrates how recent claims frame electrolyte chemistry as the lever against dead lithium rather than electrode architecture alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN110190243A | 一种具有复合膜的锂金属负极的制备及应用 | 60 |
| 2 | CN101162772A | 金属锂二次电池的泡沫锂负极及其制备方法 | 42 |
| 3 | US20190081346A1 | Anode for lithium secondary battery comprising mesh-shaped insulating layer, and lithium secondary battery co… | 29 |
| 4 | US20180301693A1 | Anode having double-protection layer formed thereon for lithium secondary battery, and lithium secondary batt… | 27 |
| 5 | US10727545B1 | Methods of charging secondary lithium metal batteries to reactive dead lithium with redox shuttling additives… | 25 |
| 6 | CN107834073A | 一种锂金属电池负极枝晶抑制剂及其使用方法 | 22 |
| 7 | CN103378347A | 一种锂离子电池负极及其锂离子电池 | 22 |
| 8 | CN108886139A | 包含网状绝缘层的锂二次电池用负极以及包含该负极的锂二次电池 | 21 |
| 9 | CN108475774A | 其上形成有双保护层的锂二次电池用负极和包含其的锂二次电池 | 20 |
| 10 | CN105932224A | 改性硅基负极材料及其制备方法与应用 | 20 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward 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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Three patterns stand out once the filing, class and citation data are read together.
The top is dense, the tail is long
The five most active assignees combined hold 66 of the 239 records in scope, 27.6% of the field. The top 10 extend that to 93 records, 38.9% — meaning nearly two-thirds of the field is still spread across dozens of single- or few-filing entrants.
Growth has flattened since the 2024 peak
Filings rose steadily from 20 in 2017 through a 2022 midpoint of 32 to a peak of 39 in 2024. Several of the most active named assignees show 0 filings or a -100% year-on-year change in the latest tracked year, consistent with a maturing rather than accelerating filing pattern.
China is the primary filing venue by a wide margin
China accounts for 146 of the tracked filings, well ahead of EPO (24), the US (23) and WIPO/PCT (23). South Korea (7) and Austria (4) are minor by comparison, suggesting freedom-to-operate work should prioritize Chinese prior art first.
Almost everything files under core battery classification
H01M covers 95.4% of the 239 records, leaving only thin slivers in adjacent classes like C01B (2.5%), C23C and G01N (1.7% each). That thinness is itself informative: coating, testing and inorganic-compound angles on dead lithium are rarely the subject of a standalone claim.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to dead lithium and coulombic efficiency in lithium metal cells, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
A ranked list of 100 companies underlies this section — not a top-50 or top-100 cutoff, but the full set the data endpoint returns for this search.
A single leader well ahead of fifth place
The leading assignee holds 27 records, compared with 7 at fifth place and 5 at tenth — a steep drop-off that signals one company has invested disproportionately in this specific failure mechanism rather than treating it as incidental to broader cell patents.
Co-filing is rare and concentrated
Only four co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairing accounts for 4 joint records while the others are single instances. Most invention here is happening inside one organization rather than through joint ventures or university partnerships.
Several established filers went to zero in the latest year
Multiple assignees that were active earlier in the dataset show 0 filings in the latest tracked year, with some recording a -100% year-on-year change. One university-linked filer shows continued activity at 1 filing in the latest year, a contrast worth watching given the broader slowdown.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | 1 | — |
| LG Chem, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) | 0 | -100% |
| LG Energy Solution, Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Lyten, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Harbin Institute of Technology | 0 | — |
| Korea University of Technology and Education Industry-University Cooperation Foundation | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape is a starting point for freedom-to-operate screening and white-space scoping, not a substitute for either.
Screen the Chinese filing base first
With 146 of the tracked records filed in China against 24 at EPO and 23 in the US, any FTO check that skips Chinese-language prior art is checking the smaller half of the field.
Explore filings in EurekaWatch the flattening trend for a re-acceleration signal
Filings peaked at 39 in 2024 after a 2022 midpoint of 32; the next one to two published years will show whether this is a plateau or the start of a decline once the publication lag clears.
Track filing trends in EurekaTest claims against the thin adjacent classes
C01B, C23C, G01N and B82Y each sit at 2.5% of records or below — a specific claim built in one of these adjacent chemistries may face less crowded prior art than another H01M filing.
Run a claim search in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
Dead lithium is electrically isolated lithium metal that forms during cycling and no longer participates in charge transfer, directly reducing coulombic efficiency and cell lifespan. It is a central technical barrier to commercializing lithium metal batteries at scale, which is why inventive activity clusters around electrolyte additives, protective anode layers and diagnostic methods aimed at preventing or reversing it. In this dataset, 95.4% of the 239 records in scope classify under H01M, confirming that nearly all patenting activity treats this as a core battery-chemistry problem rather than a peripheral materials issue.
The field is moderately concentrated: the top five assignees combined hold 66 of 239 records (27.6%), and the top ten extend that to 93 records (38.9%). The leading assignee alone holds 27 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 7. Beyond the leaders, though, the field has a long tail of dozens of companies and universities each holding only a handful of filings, so no single company controls the space outright.
Filings grew from 20 in 2017 to a peak of 39 in 2024, but the 2022 midpoint of 32 shows that growth had already begun to flatten before the peak. Several previously active assignees show zero filings or a -100% year-on-year change in the most recent tracked year. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year's low count is partly a data artifact rather than a confirmed slowdown, but the multi-year trend still points to a plateau rather than acceleration.
China is by far the largest filing venue in this dataset at 146 of the tracked records, more than six times the next largest office. EPO (24), the US (23) and WIPO/PCT (23) filings follow at similar levels to each other, with South Korea (7) and Austria (4) trailing well behind. Any competitive or freedom-to-operate review that does not include Chinese-language filings is missing the majority of the documented field.
IPC classes outside the dominant H01M sit at low single-digit shares of the 239 records — C01B at 2.5%, C23C and G01N at 1.7% each, and B82Y at 1.3% — indicating that coating, materials-testing and nanotechnology angles on dead lithium have not attracted dense claim coverage. Co-assignee collaboration is also rare, with only four identified pairs in the whole dataset, suggesting joint university-industry filings in this specific mechanism remain uncommon. Both patterns point to narrower, mechanism-specific claims — such as in-situ porosity diagnostics or stack-pressure hardware — as comparatively open filing territory.
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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.