LMO Solid Electrolyte Battery Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2021 peak. 13 families filed in 2021 against a flat-to-declining trend through the 2022 midpoint of 12, suggesting the field settled into incremental filing rather than a new wave.
- The US and Europe dominate receiving offices. 81 US and 76 EPO filings dwarf the 21 from China and 17 from Japan, pointing to where enforcement risk actually concentrates for this chemistry.
- Momentum has stalled across nearly every major assignee. Recent-year filing counts show zero activity from several leading names in the latest year, including one assignee down 100% year-on-year.
Filing growth compares 2021 (13 records) with 2024 (11) — 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 262 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families combining lithium manganese oxide (LMO) cathode chemistry with solid electrolyte architectures — garnet electrolytes, composite solid electrolytes and related solid-state LMO cell designs — captured under IPC classes for lithium battery active materials and solid electrolyte configurations. It spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, covering 262 published families across six major receiving offices.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend line understate real filing activity; treat the most recent one to two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The filing curve and the IPC spread together show a field that grew steadily through the late 2010s, peaked in 2021, and has since plateaued rather than accelerated.
A peak in 2021, then a plateau
Annual filings rose from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2021. The 2022 midpoint of 12 sits almost level with the peak, and the trend from there is flat or declining rather than growing — a pattern consistent with a technology whose core claim space is largely staked out.
Cathode chemistry dominates the classification spread
Every record sits under H01M (batteries and cells), but 100 of the 262 families also carry a C01G classification for compounds of other metals, reflecting how much of the inventive work is in the manganese oxide compound itself rather than cell packaging. B60L (17 families) shows a modest but real pull toward EV integration, while B82Y nanotechnology (5) and C23C coating (2) remain thin, specialist branches.
Shares are the percentage of the 262 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Lithium Manganese Oxide Battery Solid Electrolyte with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about lithium manganese oxide battery solid electrolyte and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art everyone in this space cites
US9373866B2 — Solid electrolyte battery
Provided is a solid electrolyte battery that has favorable charge-discharge characteristics with impedance reduced. This solid electrolyte battery has, on a substrate, a stacked body of a positive electrode side current collector film, a positive electrode protective film, a positive electrode active material film, a solid electrolyte film, a negative electrode potential formation layer, and a negative electrode side current collector film stacked in this order. The positive electrode active material film is composed of an amorphous positive electrode active material.Filed by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., published 2016-06-21.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6007947A | Mixed lithium manganese oxide and lithium nickel cobalt oxide positive electrodes | 185 |
| 2 | US6379842B1 | Mixed lithium manganese oxide and lithium nickel cobalt oxide positive electrodes | 159 |
| 3 | US5418090A | Electrodes for rechargeable lithium batteries | 157 |
| 4 | US6159636A | Mixtures of lithium manganese oxide spinel as cathode active material | 112 |
| 5 | US5869207A | Stabilized electrochemical cell | 90 |
| 6 | US5770018A | Method for preparing lithium manganese oxide compounds | 86 |
| 7 | US20030134200A1 | Positive electrode active material and nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell | 77 |
| 8 | US6482550B1 | Non-aqueous secondary battery | 70 |
| 9 | US6489060B1 | Rechargeable spinel lithium batteries with greatly improved elevated temperature cycle life | 67 |
| 10 | US20060019151A1 | Non-aqueous electrolyte battery | 63 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus; read them as a map of foundational influence, not of current activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, geography and citation data are read together.
The wave has already crested
Filings rose steadily to a 2021 peak of 13 before flattening, and the 2022 midpoint of 12 shows no renewed acceleration. New entrants filing broad composition claims now are working against a decade of prior art rather than an open field.
Enforcement risk sits in the US and Europe
The United States and the EPO together account for the majority of receiving-office activity, well ahead of China's 21 and Japan's 17. Freedom-to-operate work on this chemistry should prioritise US and European prosecution history over a China-first search.
Foundational cathode-mixture patents still frame the field
The most-cited records are early mixed lithium manganese oxide and lithium nickel cobalt oxide cathode patents, not solid-electrolyte-specific filings. Anyone drafting composition-of-matter claims here should expect examiners to reach for this older cathode art first.
Joint filings are rare and mostly academic-industry
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across 262 families, and the strongest is a university-national laboratory pairing rather than a company-to-company alliance. Most assignees are filing solo, which leaves collaborative R&D structures largely untested as a filing strategy here.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to lithium manganese oxide battery solid electrolyte, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where activity is slowing
Filing here is dominated by established battery and materials firms, but the recent-year momentum data shows almost all of them pulling back rather than pushing forward.
Major names have gone quiet recently
LG Chem, Valence Technology, Sony Group, Tosoh, Sanyo Electric and A123 Systems all show zero filings in the most recent year in this dataset, one of them down 100% year-on-year. This is consistent with a claim space that these firms consider largely settled rather than one they are abandoning outright.
Northwestern and Argonne anchor the research end
The densest co-assignee relationship in the dataset pairs a university with a national laboratory, filing 7 families together. This points to fundamental materials research still running in parallel with, rather than feeding directly into, the commercial filers.
A crowded core with room at the margins
With 262 families concentrated among a recognisable set of established cathode and cell manufacturers, newer or smaller filers face a dense prior-art core in mixed-oxide cathode composition, but the thinner IPC branches (nanotechnology, coating, alkali-metal compounds) remain comparatively open.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| LG Chem | 0 | — |
| Valence Technology | 0 | — |
| Sony Group | 0 | — |
| Tosoh Corporation | 0 | — |
| Sanyo Electric | 0 | — |
| A123 Systems | 0 | -100% |
| Altairnano | 0 | — |
| Ningde Amperex Technology (ATL) | 0 | — |
Where to take this research
The filing and citation data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing or new filing.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the cited core
The most-cited records are mixed-oxide cathode composition patents rather than solid-electrolyte-specific claims. Any new filing or product using LMO with a solid electrolyte should be checked against this older cathode art first, not just recent solid-state filings.
Explore prior art in EurekaWatch for renewed filing after the plateau
The flat trend since 2021, combined with near-zero recent-year activity from major assignees, suggests either consolidation or a pause before a new filing wave tied to solid-state commercialisation timelines. Track quarterly filings rather than relying on the annual count alone.
Set up monitoring in EurekaTarget the thinner IPC branches for new claims
Nanotechnology, coating and alkali-metal compound branches carry a fraction of the filings seen in the cathode composition core, making them a more promising place to draft a defensible first claim than the crowded H01M/C01G intersection.
Map white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
It is a lithium-ion battery design that pairs a lithium manganese oxide (LMO or LiMn2O4) cathode with a solid, rather than liquid, electrolyte, often a garnet-type ceramic or a composite solid electrolyte. The solid electrolyte is intended to improve safety and reduce impedance compared with liquid electrolyte cells. This dataset covers 262 patent families filed on this combination since 2015, spanning cathode chemistry, electrolyte composition and cell architecture claims.
Filing is concentrated among established battery and materials manufacturers rather than a single dominant leader, with names including LG Chem, Sony Group, Sanyo Electric, Tosoh and Valence Technology appearing across the dataset. Academic and national laboratory filers, notably a Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory pairing, contribute a smaller but technically foundational share. Recent-year data shows most of these established filers with little to no new activity, which is worth weighing against the possibility of a publication-lag effect in the most recent one to two years.
Based on this dataset, filing peaked at 13 families in 2021 and the trend since has been flat or declining, with the 2022 midpoint at 12. That is not evidence of a shrinking field so much as one that has moved from rapid early growth into a more mature, incremental filing phase. Readers should treat the very latest one to two years of data as understated, since patent publication typically lags the actual filing date by about 18 months.
Start with the United States and European Patent Office, which together account for the large majority of receiving-office filings in this dataset (81 and 76 respectively, against 21 for China and 17 for Japan). Also check the most-cited foundational cathode patents, several of which predate solid electrolyte designs but are still cited heavily against new filings in this space. A search limited to recent solid-state-specific patents alone will miss this older but still-active prior art.
The IPC composition data shows the bulk of filings sit at the intersection of battery cells (H01M) and metal oxide compounds (C01G), while branches such as nanotechnology applications, coating and surface deposition, and alkali-metal compound co-doping carry only a handful of filings each. These thinner branches, including nanostructured electrolyte interfaces and composite conductor design, represent more open claim space than the crowded cathode-composition core, though thin filing counts can also reflect limited commercial interest rather than pure opportunity.
Research Lithium Manganese Oxide Battery Solid Electrolyte in depth with Eureka
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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.