Electrochemical Oxidation POP Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. the trend runs from 37 filings in 2017 to a 2025 peak of 56, with the 2022 midpoint at 28 — a flat-to-declining trajectory once the 2026 dip is read as publication lag rather than a real drop.
- Leadership is diffuse. the top 5 assignees hold just 13.5% of all 794 records and the top 10 only 22.0%, so no single filer controls the field the way concentration patterns do in adjacent battery or catalyst spaces.
- Electrolytic production dominates the claim map. C25B accounts for 41.4% of records and C02F for 31.1%, meaning most patented value sits in the electrolysis cell and the water-treatment application, not in adjacent battery or plating uses.
Filing growth compares 2021 (34 records) with 2024 (25) — 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. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 794 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Electrochemical oxidation applies an applied potential — often across a boron-doped diamond anode — to break down persistent organic pollutants that resist conventional biological or chemical treatment. The search scope here pulls together three technical threads: the anode materials and cell designs that generate oxidants in situ, the electrochemical defluorination routes aimed at per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and the operating variables — current efficiency, mass transfer limitation, and unwanted bromate or perchlorate byproduct formation — that determine whether a design is commercially workable.
The 794 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, drawing filings across six major receiving offices. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend line will always look thinner than the underlying filing activity actually was.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 794 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses.
A decade of flat-to-declining activity
Annual filings ran from 37 in 2017 to a peak of 56 in 2025, with the 2022 midpoint sitting at 28. Read together, the shape is closer to a plateau with a late bump than a sustained growth curve — worth noting before assuming this is a fast-expanding filing area.
Where the claims sit
C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) touches 41.4% of records and C02F (water and wastewater treatment) touches 31.1%, confirming the field is anchored in cell electrochemistry applied to water. Smaller but non-trivial shares in H01M (13.7%), C07D (8.4%) and C25C (6.4%) show meaningful overlap with battery, heterocyclic-compound and metal-electrowinning patenting — a record can carry more than one class, so these shares add up past 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 794 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Electrochemical Oxidation for Persistent Organic Pollutants with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about electrochemical oxidation for persistent organic pollutants and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim: coupling processes
Electrocatalytic Fenton oxidation-electrochemical oxidation coupling process and apparatus (Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 2022)
The filing discloses a coupling process that pairs an electrocatalytic Fenton oxidation step with a separate electrochemical oxidation step, controlling cathode-anode spacing so oxygen generated at the anode reacts at the cathode to produce H2O2 in situ. That removes the need for external aeration or added H2O2 while aiming to keep COD removal efficient.Abstract trimmed for length; full claim language is available in the source record.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5682043A | Electrochemical light-emitting devices | 257 |
| 2 | US4780796A | Solid electrolytic capacitor | 129 |
| 3 | US5965004A | Chlorine dioxide generation for water treatment | 107 |
| 4 | US20060144700A1 | Apparatus and process for mediated electrochemical oxidation of materials | 104 |
| 5 | EP1524678A2 | Electrolytic capacitors with polymeric outer layer | 98 |
| 6 | US20080053836A1 | Process for the production of diaryl carbonates and treatment of alkalichloride solutions resulting therefrom | 84 |
| 7 | US7116309B1 | Photowriting display device and photowriting display unit incorporating the same | 84 |
| 8 | US5879949A | Apparatus and method for rapid on-line electrochemistry and mass spectrometry | 84 |
| 9 | US20020061441A1 | Lithium battery and electrode | 83 |
| 10 | US4112199A | Lanthanum nickel hydride-hydrogen/metal oxide cell | 65 |
Citation counts favour older, well-indexed records and should be read as a signal of influence within this searched corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns emerge once the numbers are set side by side: a plateau in overall activity, a technology mix skewed toward electrolytic and water-treatment claims, and a citation record dominated by older, adjacent-field patents.
Growth has stalled since the early-2020s midpoint
With 2022 sitting at 28 filings and 2025 at 56, activity has not tracked a steady upward curve; the 2026 figure of 7 is a partial year and should not be read as a collapse given the usual 18-month publication lag.
No single assignee controls the field
The leader holds 34 records and the top 5 combined reach only 13.5% of all 794 records in scope — a much flatter concentration curve than fields with a dominant patent holder, meaning freedom-to-operate analysis has to look across many mid-sized filers rather than one gatekeeper.
Electrolytic production claims anchor the field
C25B and C02F together touch the large majority of records, but the meaningful presence of H01M (13.7%) shows real overlap between electrochemical water treatment and battery-adjacent electrode work — a signal for teams scouting cross-application anode materials.
Influential prior art predates the current wave
The most-cited records in this corpus include general electrochemical and capacitor patents rather than pollutant-specific filings, a reminder that citation counts here reward age and broad applicability more than current relevance to POP treatment.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electrochemical oxidation for persistent organic pollutants, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders span industrial chemical firms, university research foundations and public research institutes — a mix consistent with a field still being explored academically as much as it is being commercialised.
A modest lead, not a monopoly
The top-ranked assignee holds 34 records against a field of 794, and momentum data shows even long-standing filers posting zero filings in the latest year — consistent with a field where technical leadership changes hands rather than compounding.
A long tail below the top handful
Fifth place sits at 16 records and tenth place at 13, a gentle taper rather than a cliff — freedom-to-operate work in this space needs to clear a broad set of mid-sized portfolios, not just the leader.
Collaboration is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest single pairing recorded at 16 joint records — most filers here are working alone rather than through joint-assignee structures.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc | 1 | — |
| MacDermid Acumen Inc | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| Janssen Pharmaceutica NV | 0 | — |
| Toshiba Corporation | 0 | — |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | 0 | — |
| CARSON ROGER W | 0 | — |
| BREMER BRUCE W | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to specific follow-up work rather than a single conclusion — the flat filing trend and diffuse ownership both change how a freedom-to-operate or whitespace search should be scoped.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on anode claims
With ownership spread across many mid-sized filers rather than one leader, a targeted search across the top 10 assignees' active claims is more useful than a single-competitor teardown.
Explore assignee portfolios in Eureka →Track the coupling-process sub-branch
Fenton-electrochemical coupling and defluorination claims sit in less-crowded corners of the IPC mix; monitoring new filings there flags emerging competitors early.
Set up monitoring in Eureka →Common questions on this landscape
The leading assignee in this 794-record dataset holds 34 records, with the top 5 combined reaching 13.5% of all records in scope. That is a modest lead rather than market control, and the ranking tapers gently — fifth place holds 16 records and tenth place 13 — so ownership is spread across a broad set of industrial, academic and institutional filers rather than concentrated in one company. Anyone doing competitive tracking here should watch a handful of mid-sized portfolios, not just the top name.
Filing activity has been essentially flat to declining since the early 2020s: 2017 saw 37 filings, the 2022 midpoint sat at 28, and the peak so far was 56 in 2025. The 2026 figure looks low but that year is only partially published as of the data cut-off, and publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the true 2025-2026 picture will fill in over time. Treat the recent apparent dip with caution rather than as evidence of the field cooling.
A boron-doped diamond anode is an electrode material prized for generating strong oxidants at high current efficiency, which makes it a common choice in cells designed to break down persistent organic pollutants that resist conventional treatment. It appears throughout this patent corpus alongside claims addressing anode material life and mass transfer limitation, both of which affect whether a lab-scale design survives continuous industrial operation. Byproduct control — particularly bromate and perchlorate formation — is a recurring concern tied to this anode chemistry when treating water containing bromide or chloride ions.
C25B, covering electrolytic production of compounds, appears in 41.4% of the 794 records in scope, and C02F, covering water and wastewater treatment, appears in 31.1%. Smaller but notable shares fall in H01M (batteries and fuel cells, 13.7%) and C25C (electrolytic metal production, 6.4%), showing real technical overlap with adjacent electrochemical fields. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should not be summed into a single total.
This 2022 filing from Nanjing University of Science and Technology couples an electrocatalytic Fenton oxidation step with a separate electrochemical oxidation step, using controlled cathode-anode spacing so anode-generated oxygen produces H2O2 at the cathode in situ. That specific architecture — avoiding external aeration or added H2O2 while managing COD removal — is the part a competing design needs to review closely if it relies on the same in-situ peroxide generation mechanism. Teams working on similar coupling processes should check claim scope around the spacing-control mechanism specifically, rather than assuming the whole coupling concept is blocked.
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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.