Electronic & Functional Materials Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Battery chemistry dominates the field. 80.0% of the 20 records in scope carry an H01M battery/cell/fuel-cell classification, with C01G metal-compound claims layered on top of many of the same filings.
- Filing activity peaked in 2021 and has pulled back sharply. the hero trend shows 2021 at 8 filings falling to 2 by 2024, a -75% move over that three-year span, though 2025-26 counts are still filling in as publication lags filing.
- Four assignees account for every record in the ranking. the top 4 combined equal 20 of 20 records in scope (100.0%), a pattern of tight concentration rather than a broad competitive field.
Filing growth compares 2021 (8 records) with 2024 (2) — 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.
What the record set actually shows
The corpus in scope spans 2015 to 2026 and returns 20 published records tied to electronic and functional materials work, with claims concentrated around electrode and active-material chemistry rather than materials characterization broadly. H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells) appears in 80.0% of records, and C01G (compounds of other metals) appears in 35.0%, meaning most of what is filed under this search string is really battery-material patenting dressed in materials-science language.
Filing activity rose to a peak of 8 records in 2021 before contracting to 2 by 2024, a decline the dataset states as -75% across that window. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025-26 figures should be read as incomplete rather than as evidence the field has gone quiet.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 20-record set: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
A sharp rise and an equally sharp pullback
Filings climbed to a peak of 8 in 2021, then fell to 2 by 2024 — a -75% move over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as provisional; they will fill in as publications catch up with filings made in those years.
Battery chemistry carries the field
H01M covers 80.0% of the 20 records and C01G covers 35.0%, together pointing to electrode and metal-compound chemistry as the dominant claim territory. The remaining subclasses — C08F, C09D, G01N and H01J — each sit at a single record (5.0%), marking narrow, largely unconsolidated side branches rather than an even spread of activity.
Shares are the percentage of the 20 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
Electrochemical cell (AU2023219234A1)
The filing describes an electrochemical cell — framed as a lithium-ion battery — built from an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte, where the anode's active material is a niobium-containing oxide with a specified crystal structure.Filed by Echion Technologies Limited; published 2024-08-22.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2021245411A1 | Active electrode material | 24 |
| 2 | KR101511740B1 | Measuring equipment of metal material property in hyperbaric environment by barkhausen noise | 11 |
| 3 | JP1992120114A | Production of fluorine-containing block copolymer and coating material containing the same | 10 |
| 4 | US20230231123A1 | Active electrode material | 9 |
| 5 | WO2023152505A1 | Electrochemical cell | 5 |
| 6 | WO2022208102A1 | Active electrode material | 4 |
| 7 | US20250033991A1 | Active electrode material | 2 |
| 8 | US12027699B2 | Active electrode material | 2 |
| 9 | GB202105082D0 | Active electrode material | 2 |
| 10 | GB2595761A | Active electrode material | 2 |
Citation counts reflect influence inside this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Read together, the concentration figures and the citation table point to a field where battery chemistry has absorbed most of the claim space, and a small number of assignees hold nearly all of it.
Four names cover the whole ranked field
The assignee ranking returns only four companies, and together they account for all 20 records in scope. This is not a top-50 or top-100 cut — it is the entire ranking the dataset produces, which itself signals a narrow, still-forming competitive set rather than a mature multi-player field.
Peak activity has already passed
Filings rose to 8 in 2021, the high point of the trend, then fell to 2 by 2024. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-26 years shown in the chart should not be read as confirmation of continued decline — they are still filling in.
Claims sit overwhelmingly on battery chemistry
H01M appears in 80.0% of the 20 records and C01G in 35.0%, meaning most filings combine an electrode/cell claim with a metal-compound claim. Subclasses like C08F, C09D, G01N and H01J each appear once, marking thin, individually held side branches rather than contested ground.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electronic & functional materials patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
The ranked field is small: four assignees, together covering every record returned by this search. None shows filing activity in the most recent year, which is consistent with the broader pullback since the 2021 peak rather than any one company stepping back.
One assignee holds the majority of the set
The leading assignee accounts for 17 of the 20 records in scope, leaving the other three ranked companies to split the remainder. That is a steep drop-off from first to second place, and it means most freedom-to-operate analysis in this space should start with that single filer's claim scope.
A narrow, fully-accounted field
The ranking returns exactly four companies, and they cover 100.0% of the 20 records in scope. There is no long tail of small filers here — the field is either genuinely this concentrated or still early enough that broader participation has not yet shown up in published records.
No live filer in the most recent year
Every one of the four ranked assignees shows zero filings in the latest year of the trend. Given the 18-month publication lag, this is expected rather than alarming, but it does mean recent competitive moves are not yet visible in this data cut.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Echion Technologies Limited | 0 | — |
| Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science | 0 | — |
| Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| ASML Netherlands B.V. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated, battery-chemistry-heavy field with several thinly-claimed side branches. The next step is turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate position.
Map the leader's claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 17 of 20 records, a detailed claim chart against that portfolio is the highest-value next step before drafting anything adjacent to electrode or niobium-oxide chemistry.
Explore claim mapping in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
C08F, C09D, G01N and H01J each carry a single record. Running a deeper prior-art check on each before committing R&D resources can confirm whether the thin count reflects real white space or simply narrow search scope.
Run a deeper search in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset's assignee ranking returns four companies that together account for all 20 records in scope. One assignee holds 17 of those records, making it by far the dominant filer, while the remaining three assignees split the rest. Anyone assessing freedom to operate in this space should treat that leading assignee's portfolio as the primary reference point rather than assuming a broad, evenly distributed competitive field.
Filings rose to a peak of 8 in 2021 and had fallen to 2 by 2024, a decline the data states as -75% over that span. However, publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart are still incomplete and should not be read as proof the field is continuing to shrink. The safest statement is that activity peaked in 2021 and pulled back sharply through 2024; more recent years need time to fill in before drawing conclusions.
Battery-related chemistry dominates: H01M, covering batteries, cells and fuel cells, appears in 80.0% of the 20 records in scope, and C01G, covering compounds of other metals, appears in 35.0%. Several other subclasses — C08F, C09D, G01N and H01J — each appear in only a single record, indicating that despite the broad framing of the search around electronic and functional materials, most granted attention has gone to electrode and metal-compound chemistry specifically.
The thinly-populated IPC subclasses are the clearest signal: C08F (vinyl-based addition polymer binders), C09D (functional coatings and inks), G01N (material characterization instrumentation) and H01J (electron and discharge tube materials) each carry just one record out of 20. That does not guarantee an easy path to grant, but it does mean claim space in those adjacent branches has not been heavily staked out by the assignees dominating the core battery-chemistry claims, and is worth a deeper prior-art check before ruling out.
AU2023219234A1, filed by Echion Technologies Limited and published 2024-08-22, describes an electrochemical cell — framed as a lithium-ion battery — with an anode built from a niobium-containing oxide of a specified crystal structure, paired with a cathode and an electrolyte. It is one of the more recent filings in the record set and sits squarely in the H01M/C01G overlap that dominates this dataset. Anyone developing niobium-oxide anode materials should review its claim scope directly, since it is a live, recently-published filing rather than an older, settled patent.
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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.