Electrocatalyst Stability & Durability Patent Landscape
The electrocatalyst stability and durability field is in a clear growth phase, with 925 patent families on record and a 74% rise in filings over the recent window, led by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. at 32 patent families. The competitive structure is fragmented — the five largest filers hold only 14% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total — with the United States as the primary filing jurisdiction and electrolytic production dominating the technology mix.
Honda leads a fragmented, multi-stakeholder field
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. holds the top position with 32 patent families, followed closely by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (29), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (25), Cabot Corporation (24), and Industrie De Nora S.p. A. (22). No single entity commands a dominant share, reflecting a field where both industrial corporations and academic or government-backed research institutions compete actively.
The top five filers account for only 14% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, an unusually low concentration for a technology this well-established. The tier gap between the first-ranked applicant (32 patent families) and the twentieth (13 patent families) is narrow, confirming that no incumbent has achieved a lock-in position.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 32 | |
| 2 | King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | 29 | |
| 3 | COUNCIL OF SCI & IND RES | 25 | |
| 4 | Cabot Corporation | 24 | |
| 5 | Industrie De Nora S.p.A. | 22 | |
| 6 | Symyx Technologies, Inc. | 21 | |
| 7 | Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) | 21 | |
| 8 | De Nora Elettrodi S.p.A. | 20 | |
| 9 | The Regents of the University of California | 20 | |
| 10 | The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | 19 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Johnson Matthey Hydrogen Technologies Ltd. | 19 | |
| 12 | Synexis LLC | 18 | |
| 13 | Johnson Matthey PLC | 18 | |
| 14 | UChicago Argonne LLC | 17 | |
| 15 | N.E. Chemcat Corporation | 17 | |
| 16 | California Institute of Technology | 15 | |
| 17 | Bayer AG | 14 | |
| 18 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 14 | |
| 19 | Eltech Systems Corporation | 13 | |
| 20 | Freeslate, Inc. | 13 |
Honda’s lead is built primarily on fuel-cell electrocatalyst work, while De Nora group entities (appearing under multiple legal names) collectively represent a significant industrial electrode position. The presence of King Fahd University and India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research near the top signals that publicly funded research is a material driver of output volume, not merely industrial R&D.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are likely under-counted due to standard patent publication lag; the apparent plateau in those years should not be read as a slowdown. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Sustained filing growth with electrolytic production at the core
Annual filing volumes and the technology branch breakdown together reveal a field expanding on a multi-year basis, with activity concentrated in electrolytic production and fuel-cell electrochemistry but with meaningful secondary clusters in catalysis and water treatment.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings climbed from 39 in 2017 to a recorded high of 178 in 2024, with the 2025 and 2026 figures (174 and 32 respectively) almost certainly understated due to publication lag. The step-change from 2018 to 2019 (35 to 94 patent families) marks the period when the field accelerated, likely tracking expanded green-hydrogen and fuel-cell commercialization timelines globally.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) dominates with 1,172 patent records, followed by B01J (chemical and physical processes and catalysis) at 617 and H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) at 510. These three branches account for the large majority of activity. Lower-volume branches — including C02F (water and wastewater treatment), B82Y (nanotechnology applications), C23C (coating and surface deposition), and C01G (compounds of other metals) — represent adjacent areas with materially fewer records.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Electrocatalyst for biomass upgrading and plastic …
Disclosed in the present invention are an electrocatalyst for biomass upgrading and plastic degradation, a preparation method therefor, and use thereof. The catalyst uses a carbon-based material as a catalyst support, on which multi-component metals and multi-component metal hydroxides are supported to form a catalyst with a binary metal interface… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thin carbon-cloth-based electrocatalytic gas diffu… | 267 |
| 2 | Platinum skeleton alloy-supported electrocatalyst,… | 186 |
| 3 | Electrocatalyst powders, methods for producing pow… | 153 |
| 4 | Electrochemical fuel cell with an electrode substr… | 148 |
| 5 | Platinum alloy electrocatalyst | 139 |
| 6 | Electrodes for use in electrocatalytic processes | 127 |
| 7 | Method for the production of electrocatalyst powders | 116 |
| 8 | Preparing in situ electrocatalytic films in solid … | 113 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — on maturity, concentration, collaboration networks, and geographic scope — determine where new entrants and incumbents can most efficiently deploy resources.
Growth stage: annual filings still rising
The lifecycle evidence places this field squarely in Growth, with a 74% rise in filing volume over the recent window and annual filings still rising without indication of a peak. For R&D planners, this means the window to establish foundational positions is open but narrowing; waiting for the market to mature before filing risks ceding priority to new entrants already on record.
Lifecycle: GrowthFragmented top tier — no blocking position exists
With the top five filers holding only 14% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total and the rank gap between first and twentieth being modest, there is no single incumbent that controls freedom to operate across the field. This fragmentation favors new entrants with focused technology differentiation. Industrial players and academic institutions compete in the same ranking tier, which is unusual and suggests that licensing or collaboration with a research institution can be an effective route to IP.
Low concentrationHonda–Symyx partnership is the field’s most active co-filing pair
The strongest co-filing relationship in the corpus is between Symyx Technologies and Honda Motor Co., Ltd., with 25 joint patent families — far ahead of any other pair. De Nora Elettrodi and Bayer AG have collaborated on 11 families, and Symyx also co-filed 3 families with SunEdison. Honda additionally co-filed with SunEdison (3), Symyx Solutions (2), and Freeslate (2). These partnerships suggest that combinatorial and high-throughput screening methodologies (Symyx/Freeslate’s core competence) have been a valued input into catalyst durability programs.
Key alliancesUS-centric filing with rising Asian and Indian presence
The United States leads all jurisdictions with 410 patent records, followed by China (287), WIPO PCT (201), Europe EPO (173), and India (163). India’s ranking fifth — ahead of Canada (57) and Australia (50) — reflects the active filing programs of applicants such as the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Institutes of Technology. South Korea (31) and Japan (26) are present but below their typical weight in electrochemistry-adjacent fields, suggesting potential gaps in East Asian coverage for non-Korean and non-Japanese filers.
US + emerging AsiaGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Symyx Technologies, Inc. | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 25 |
| De Nora Elettrodi S.p.A. | Bayer AG | 11 |
| Symyx Technologies, Inc. | SunEdison, Inc. | 3 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | SunEdison, Inc. | 3 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | SYMYX SOLUTIONS INC | 2 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Freeslate, Inc. | 2 |
| The Regents of the University of California | Sandia National Technologies & Engineering Solutions | 2 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Enervenue Holdings, Inc. | 2 |
| De Nora Elettrodi S.p.A. | Industrie De Nora S.p.A. | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Honda and De Nora lead on different technology routes; academic entrants are accelerating
The top two ranked applicants approach electrocatalyst durability from distinct angles — Honda from fuel-cell electrode performance, De Nora from industrial electrolytic cell design — while several academic institutions have entered as new filers in the recent window.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Honda holds 32 patent families, the largest portfolio in this corpus. Its technology focus is concentrated in H01M 4 (electrode materials for batteries and fuel cells, 29 records), B01J 23 (catalysis with metals and metal oxides, 26 records), and H01M 8 (fuel cells, 22 records), reflecting a coherent fuel-cell electrocatalyst durability program. Honda’s closest collaboration partner is Symyx Technologies, with 25 joint families, indicating a sustained high-throughput materials discovery approach.
families: 32King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
KFUPM ranks second with 29 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in the recent filing window, with 18 patent families in the most recent period — the highest recent-period count among monitored new entrants. Its focus is on C25B 1 and C25B 11 (electrolytic production of compounds, 26 records each) and C23C 16 (chemical vapor deposition coatings, 8 records), pointing to an electrolyzer and coating-based durability strategy distinct from Honda’s fuel-cell emphasis. KFUPM’s rapid rise reflects a publicly funded push into electrochemical hydrogen production.
families: 29| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | 18 | ▲ new entrant |
| Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | 15 | ▲ new entrant |
| Johnson Matthey PLC | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| The Regents of the University of California | 9 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant electrolytic core
Several IPC branches appear in the corpus with materially lower patent record counts relative to the dominant C25B and H01M clusters; these represent areas where technical activity exists but IP coverage is thin, making them worth monitoring for targeted R&D.
C02F · Water & wastewater treatment electrocatalysis
C02F accounts for 144 patent records — only 4% of the branch distribution — despite electrochemical water treatment being a plausible application for durable electrocatalysts. The branch covers electrochemical oxidation and reduction processes used in industrial effluent treatment, a segment where catalyst lifetime is a direct commercial constraint. Thin IP coverage relative to the core branches suggests that entrants developing ruggedized catalyst materials specifically for water treatment applications could differentiate without facing dense prior-art thickets. An entry path exists through adaptation of established platinum-group-metal or transition-metal-oxide catalyst formulations already documented in C25B.
Search this in Eureka →C23C · Coating & surface deposition for catalyst protection
C23C (coating and surface deposition) appears at 80 patent records — 2% of the branch distribution — despite surface engineering being a primary mechanism for improving catalyst durability against corrosion and dissolution. Protective coatings, atomic-layer-deposited overlayers, and surface passivation strategies are active research directions in academic literature but remain sparsely patented in this corpus. KFUPM’s focus on C23C 16 (CVD coatings, 8 records) is one of the few signals of industrial filing in this sub-area. Entrants with competence in thin-film deposition or atomic-layer deposition applied to electrocatalyst supports could build differentiated positions with limited blocking prior art.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | C25B 11 · Electrolytic production of compounds | C25B 1 · Electrolytic production of compounds | H01M 4 · Batteries, cells & fuel cells | B01J 23 · Chemical/physical processes & catalysis | B01J 35 · Chemical/physical processes & catalysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Nora Elettrodi S.p.A. | Strong · 27 | Strong · 20 | Strong · 24 | Absent | Absent |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Absent | Absent | Strong · 29 | Strong · 26 | Absent |
| Symyx Technologies, Inc. | Absent | Absent | Strong · 29 | Strong · 26 | Absent |
| Cabot Corporation | Absent | Absent | Strong · 19 | Strong · 19 | Strong · 17 |
| King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | Strong · 26 | Strong · 26 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | Strong · 13 | Absent | Strong · 15 | Strong · 13 | Strong · 8 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Strong · 19 | Strong · 17 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 925 patent families in scope, with the United States as the leading filing jurisdiction at 410 patent records and WIPO PCT at 201, giving the portfolio significant global reach.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. holds the largest portfolio with 32 patent families, followed by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (29) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (25).
The field is in a Growth lifecycle stage. Annual filings rose from 39 in 2017 to a recorded high of 178 in 2024, representing a 74% increase over the recent window. The 2025 and 2026 figures are likely understated due to publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
Concentration is low. The top five filers — Honda, KFUPM, CSIR, Cabot, and Industrie De Nora — together account for only 14% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. No single entity holds a blocking position across the field.
C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) dominates at 1,172 patent records, followed by B01J (chemical and physical processes and catalysis) at 617 and H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) at 510. These three branches represent the core of activity.
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Johnson Matthey Hydrogen Technologies, and the Regents of the University of California are all classified as new entrants in the recent filing window, with KFUPM recording 18 recent patent families — the highest among the monitored new entrants.
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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.
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