Micro-Supercapacitor Patent Landscape 2026
The micro-supercapacitor patent space is research-institution dominated and moderately concentrated, with University College of Southeast Norway holding the largest position among the hundred largest filers. Annual filing volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, signalling a field past its fastest-growth phase while still attracting international attention across the United States, South Korea, Europe, China, and Japan.
Academic institutions lead a fragmented but concentrated top tier
University College of Southeast Norway sits at the top of the applicant ranking, followed by Korea University Research & Business Foundation and Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd. — all three are research or technology-transfer organizations rather than product companies.
The top five filers account for 23% of the combined patent records held by the hundred largest filers, indicating a moderate concentration at the summit but a long, distributed tail of smaller contributors including corporate players such as Honda Motor, Panasonic Holdings, and TJ Tech.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University College of Southeast Norway | 20 | |
| 2 | KOREA UNIV RES & BUSINESS FOUND | 10 | |
| 3 | YEDA RES & DEV CO LTD | 9 | |
| 4 | KOREA ADVANCED INST OF SCI & TECH | 8 | |
| 5 | Hanyang University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 7 | |
| 6 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 7 | |
| 7 | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | 7 | |
| 8 | Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) | 7 | |
| 9 | Panasonic Holdings Corporation | 6 | |
| 10 | TJ Tech Co. Ltd. | 6 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. | 5 | |
| 12 | Capacitech Energy Inc. | 5 | |
| 13 | Kools | 5 | |
| 14 | Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 5 | |
| 15 | Eve Energy Co., Ltd. | 4 | |
| 16 | Kuraray Co., Ltd. | 4 | |
| 17 | Carnegie Mellon University | 4 | |
| 18 | Korea Institute of Energy Research | 4 | |
| 19 | Nisshinbo Industries Inc. | 4 | |
| 20 | Elna Co., Ltd. | 4 |
The dominance of university and public-research entities at the top suggests that foundational materials and device architectures remain in active scientific development, with industrial applicants occupying challenger and niche positions rather than commanding the field.
Records filed in approximately the last 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and are likely under-counted; the recent figures should not be interpreted as the definitive activity level for those years. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing volume has eased from a 2021 peak; capacitor IP dominates the technology mix
The annual trend chart reveals a field that surged to a 2021 high before retreating, while the technology composition chart shows H01G (Capacitors) as the overwhelmingly dominant IPC class, with a scatter of adjacent classes reflecting materials, nanotechnology, and semiconductor crossovers.
Annual filing trend
Filings rose sharply to a 2021 peak of 30 records, then contracted. Years 2024–2026 carry significant publication lag and should be read as floors, not final counts. The multi-year pattern nonetheless confirms the field is past its fastest growth phase.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01G (Capacitors) accounts for the large majority of IPC assignments, confirming that core device architecture remains the primary focus. Secondary branches — H01M (Batteries/fuel cells), H10N (Other solid-state devices), B82Y (Nanotechnology), and H01L (Semiconductors) — each carry modest counts, pointing to hybrid-energy-storage and nano-materials crossover activity at the margins.
↗ 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.
On-chip supercapacitor with silicon nanostructure
An on-chip supercapacitor has an electrode that includes one-dimensional silicon nano structures coated with a first layer of titanium nitride. The on-chip supercapacitor also includes a second layer of manganese dioxide deposited on the first layer. An associated method of providing an on-chip supercapacitor electrode on a silicon substrate includes… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | High capacitance electric double-layer capacitor | 59 |
| 2 | High surface area nitride, carbide and boride elec… | 58 |
| 3 | Method for manufacturing activated carbon, polariz… | 45 |
| 4 | Activated carbon/polyacene material composite, its… | 44 |
| 5 | Polarizing electrode for electric double-layer cap… | 42 |
| 6 | Flexible, biodegradable, and biocompatible superca… | 32 |
| 7 | Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide mi… | 24 |
| 8 | Process for producing active carbon, polarizable e… | 23 |
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
Four structural signals — life-cycle stage, applicant concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic spread — shape how an entrant or incumbent should position a micro-supercapacitor R&D programme.
Post-peak: consolidation phase underway
The lifecycle evidence places this field in Decline, with annual filings easing back from the 2021 peak. This does not mean the technology is obsolete; it more likely reflects that the initial wave of exploratory filings by academic groups has subsided and that commercial translation — or a new materials trigger — would be needed to reignite volume. R&D teams entering now face lower filing noise but also a smaller pool of active co-invention partners.
Lifecycle: DeclineModerate top-tier concentration with a long challenger tail
The top five filers hold 23% of the patent records among the hundred largest filers, a moderate share that leaves meaningful room for challengers. Below the top five, a large number of universities, national labs, and smaller companies each hold fewer than 10 patent records, creating a fragmented mid-tier. An entrant building a focused portfolio of even 10–15 records in a specific application niche could realistically break into the top ten.
Concentration: moderateA single prominent co-filing pair anchors the collaboration network
The evidence identifies one active co-applicant relationship: the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), which have co-filed 7 records together. This French-Canadian academic partnership is the only confirmed collaboration signal in the dataset; broader co-invention mapping beyond this pair is evidence pending. A corporate entrant seeking a research partner with proven micro-supercapacitor output could consider outreach to either of these institutions.
Collaboration: CNRS–INRSUS-primary filing with strong Korean and European secondary coverage
The United States leads in patent records, followed by South Korea, Europe (EPO), China, and Japan. South Korea’s strong presence reflects the cluster of Korean university and research-institute filers in the top ten. India and WIPO (PCT) round out the secondary tier. A freedom-to-operate analysis should prioritise US, Korean, and EPO jurisdictions; China and Japan are also material but carry lower record counts in this corpus.
Lead office: USGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) | 7 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Top players: academic institutions dominate, industrials occupy challenger slots
The leading filers are overwhelmingly universities and public-research foundations; the highest-ranked industrial players — Honda Motor, Panasonic Holdings, and TJ Tech — sit in the challenger tier. Technology emphasis is concentrated in H01G 11 (Capacitors) across all top applicants, with differentiation appearing in secondary classes.
University College of Southeast Norway
Holds 20 patent records — the largest position among the hundred biggest filers — with technology emphasis concentrated in H01G 11 (Capacitors), H10N 97 (Other electric solid-state devices), and H01L 49 (Semiconductor devices). This breadth across solid-state and semiconductor adjacent classes distinguishes it from most other top filers who remain squarely within H01G 11. No momentum data is available for this applicant in the evidence.
patent records: 20Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST)
Holds 8 patent records, focused on H01G 11 (Capacitors) with a secondary H01G 9 position. Momentum data flags KAIST as a new entrant in the recent filing window, indicating its portfolio activity is accelerating from a small prior base. Its presence alongside Korea University Research & Business Foundation and Hanyang University signals a strong Korean academic cluster in this space.
patent records: 8| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the capacitor core
Several IPC classes appear alongside the dominant H01G core but carry materially lower patent-record counts, suggesting areas of relative sparsity. These observations reflect current filing density; technical value and entry feasibility vary by branch.
H01M · Batteries, cells & fuel cells — hybrid storage crossover
With 20 patent records, H01M is the largest adjacent branch but remains far below H01G in absolute count, suggesting that micro-supercapacitor / battery hybrid architectures — relevant to wearables, IoT sensors, and implantable devices — are under-patented relative to their engineering importance. The technically plausible entry path is electrode materials or cell architectures that serve dual supercapacitor-battery function, an area where the top-cited prior art on high-surface-area nitride and carbide electrodes already provides a foundation.
Search this in Eureka →B82Y · Nanotechnology applications — nano-enabled electrode materials
B82Y carries only 11 patent records despite nanotechnology being central to high-performance micro-supercapacitor electrodes (carbon nanotubes, graphene, MXenes). The sparsity here likely reflects classification practice — nanotech claims are often assigned to H01G — but it also suggests that explicitly nanotechnology-framed filings are limited. Applicants with novel nano-material synthesis or nano-structuring processes could anchor filings in B82Y and B82B jointly to stake out a distinct position, provided the work differentiates from the existing C01B (non-metallic elements) prior art already in the corpus.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01G 11 · Capacitors | H01G 9 · Capacitors | H10N 97 · Other electric solid-state devices | H01M 4 · Batteries, cells & fuel cells | H01G 4 · Capacitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University College of Southeast Norway | Strong · 20 | Absent | Moderate · 8 | Absent | Absent |
| TJ Tech Co. Ltd. | Strong · 7 | Strong · 7 | Absent | Strong · 7 | Absent |
| Panasonic Holdings Corporation | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | Absent | Strong · 3 | Strong · 4 | Strong · 4 | Absent |
| Korea University Research & Business Foundation | Strong · 10 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd. | Strong · 9 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | Strong · 8 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 114 patent families. This is the baseline for the landscape; applicant rankings within the evidence are reported at the patent-record level, which can exceed the family count because a single family may be counted across multiple filing jurisdictions.
University College of Southeast Norway leads with 20 patent records among the hundred largest filers, ahead of Korea University Research & Business Foundation (10 records) and Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd. (9 records).
The evidence classifies the field as Decline, with annual filing volume easing back from a 2021 peak. The recent-window growth figure is -43%, reflecting a contraction from that peak. Publication lag means 2024–2026 data are not yet complete, but the broader trajectory is past its fastest-growth phase.
The United States leads in patent records (54), followed by South Korea (34), Europe via the EPO (31), China (25), and Japan (24). Any freedom-to-operate review should prioritise these five jurisdictions; WIPO PCT filings (20 records) may also generate national-phase rights in additional markets.
The evidence identifies one confirmed co-filing partnership: France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Canada’s Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), with 7 co-filed records. No other co-applicant relationships are captured in the current evidence.
H01M (Batteries, cells & fuel cells) at 20 patent records and B82Y (Nanotechnology applications) at 11 patent records are the largest adjacent branches relative to the dominant H01G core. Both represent plausible R&D entry paths — hybrid storage architectures for H01M and nano-material electrode processes for B82Y — but competitive value depends on differentiation from existing prior art in those classes.
Built on Patsnap Open Platform
This report’s underlying patent dataset — filings, assignees, technology clusters — is open for developers via MCP and REST API. Free to start, 10,000 credits, no credit card required.
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.