Particle Size & Zeta Potential Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
- Filings peaked in 2020 at 17 and have since cooled, with the 2022 midpoint at 6 — the technology's claim space grew fast, then stalled rather than continuing to expand.
- The most-cited prior art dates to the 1990s, meaning the foundational scattering and dilution methods (US5104221A, US4953978A) still anchor citation chains decades later.
- No tracked assignee filed in the latest year, consistent with publication lag but also suggesting current leaders are consolidating rather than pushing new filings through the pipeline.
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers particle size analysis, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurement, filtered to filings that address polydispersity index calculation, sample dilution, aggregation detection, laser diffraction or colloidal stability. The classification footprint is concentrated in G01N (material analysis and testing), which appears in nearly every record, with secondary activity in separation processes and combinatorial chemistry hardware.
Ninety-five patent families were published across the coverage window, filed through receiving offices led by the United States and the European Patent Office, with meaningful volume also routed through the WIPO PCT system, China, India and Australia. That spread points to a field where applicants file multi-jurisdictionally rather than concentrating in one home market.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 95-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim volume.
A peak in 2020, then a flat-to-declining tail
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 17 in 2020, then eased back toward the 2022 midpoint of 6. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the final one or two years in this trend will always look thinner than they will eventually settle at — but the shape from 2020 onward is a cooling one, not a growth curve interrupted by lag alone.
G01N dominates; separation and combinatorial hardware trail
G01N (material analysis and testing) appears in 93 of 95 records, confirming this is fundamentally a measurement-instrument dataset. Separation processes (B01D, 13 records), catalysis-adjacent processes (B01J, 10) and combinatorial libraries (C40B, 10) show the technology's secondary pull into sample-preparation and screening workflows, while medicinal preparations (A61K, 6) and enzyme/DNA testing (C12Q, 4) mark the field's thinnest, most exploratory edges.
Shares are the percentage of the 95 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Particle Size and Zeta Potential Analysis with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about particle size and zeta potential analysis and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art that still gets cited
US20250383279A1 — Data quality
Malvern Panalytical's late-2025 filing addresses a practical failure mode in laser diffraction: distinguishing genuine background artefacts in detector data from measurement noise before they corrupt a particle size result. The method automatically screens background light-intensity data across multiple detectors, flags artefacts indicative of instrument error, and classifies them — moving artefact detection from manual operator judgement into the measurement pipeline itself.Filed by Malvern Panalytical Limited, published 2025-12-18.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6519032B1 | Fiber optic apparatus and use thereof in combinatorial material science | 140 |
| 2 | US6211956B1 | Automatic dilution system for high-resolution particle size analysis | 119 |
| 3 | US5104221A | Particle size analysis utilizing polarization intensity differential scattering | 107 |
| 4 | US20030142309A1 | Fiber optic apparatus and use thereof in combinatorial material science | 68 |
| 5 | US4953978A | Particle size analysis utilizing polarization intensity differential scattering | 68 |
| 6 | US4851329A | Immunoassay employing optical pulse particle size analysis | 40 |
| 7 | US5056918A | Method and apparatus for particle size analysis | 33 |
| 8 | US5786898A | Structure and method for centrifugal sedimentation particle size analysis of particles of lower density than … | 31 |
| 9 | US6819420B2 | Fiber optic apparatus and use thereof in combinatorial material science | 30 |
| 10 | CN106199350A | 一种橡塑电缆绝缘老化状态评估方法 | 24 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside a searched corpus — read this as a map of foundational influence, not of current technical importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about where this field stands
Three signals worth weighing before deciding where to file or who to watch.
Growth has stalled since the 2020 peak
Filing activity roughly doubled between 2017 and 2020, then contracted back toward pre-peak levels by the 2022 midpoint. That pattern is more consistent with an initial land-grab around dilution and aggregation-detection claims than with a technology still opening up new ground.
Claim density sits almost entirely in one subclass
With G01N present in all but two records, the field is tightly bound to material-analysis instrumentation claims. The next-largest subclasses — separation processes and combinatorial libraries — sit an order of magnitude lower, at 13 and 10 records respectively.
Filing is multi-jurisdictional, not home-market concentrated
The United States and the European Patent Office carry near-equal volume, with a further 17 records routed through the WIPO PCT system. China, India and Australia each carry single-digit-to-low-teens volume, suggesting protection strategies built around US/EU coverage first, with PCT used to keep other markets open.
Foundational scattering and dilution patents still anchor the field
The five most-cited records include filings on fiber-optic combinatorial screening and polarization-intensity scattering dating back to the early 1990s and early 2000s. Their continued citation weight signals that later filings build on — rather than replace — these foundational measurement methods.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to particle size and zeta potential analysis, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Co-filing pairs and recent-year activity point to a field where a small number of established instrument makers hold ground, and where none show fresh filings in the latest tracked year.
Collaboration is limited and concentrated
Only four co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset. The strongest link, between Canon and Canon Medical Systems, appears 6 times; two further pairs tied to Cyclics/Simics-type filings each appear 3 times. Most filings in this dataset are single-assignee.
No assignee shows fresh latest-year activity
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum — including Malvern Instruments, Canon, Canon Medical Systems and Coulter Electronics of New England — shows zero filings in the most recent tracked year. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, this likely understates true current activity, but it also means the visible pipeline has gone quiet.
A named set of instrument makers, not a fragmented field
The assignee ranking is dominated by established particle-characterisation instrument makers rather than a long tail of one-off filers, though the dataset is small enough — 95 families — that any single assignee's activity shifts the picture meaningfully.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Notemp Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| COULTER ELECTRONICS OF NEW ENGLAND | 0 | — |
| Cyclics Technology Corporation | 0 | — |
| Canon Inc. | 0 | — |
| Malvern Instruments Limited | 0 | — |
| Canon Medical Systems Corporation | 0 | — |
| Biogenbac Uruguay Limited | 0 | — |
| Terrion Corporation | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions depending on whether you are filing, licensing or tracking competitors.
Check freedom-to-operate against the foundational cites
Before filing new claims on scattering-based or dilution-based methods, review the 1990s-and-2000s prior art that still carries the heaviest citation weight in this corpus — it continues to shape examiner reasoning even in recent filings.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkWatch for a filing rebound
The 2020 peak and subsequent decline could reverse once publication lag catches up; recheck the trend in 12-18 months before concluding the field has genuinely cooled.
Track filing trends over timeMap the under-claimed branches
Enzyme/DNA-coupled sizing and polymer-solution colloidal stability show thin but real overlap with the core dataset — a targeted search of those intersections may surface open claim space.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking in this 95-family dataset is led by established particle-characterisation instrument makers such as Malvern Instruments, alongside Canon and Canon Medical Systems, which also appear as a strong co-filing pair. Coulter Electronics of New England and several China-based research and technology entities also appear in the ranking. Because the dataset is comparatively small, a single assignee's filing decisions can shift relative rankings noticeably, so treat any single year's leader position as provisional rather than fixed.
Filing activity grew from 4 records in 2017 to a peak of 17 in 2020, then declined toward 6 by the 2022 midpoint — a flat-to-declining trend rather than sustained growth. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the final one or two years of any trend chart will always look artificially thin, so the most recent years should be read cautiously. Even accounting for that lag, the shape from 2020 onward points to cooling rather than acceleration.
G01N, covering material analysis and testing, is by far the dominant classification, appearing in 93 of the 95 records in this dataset. Secondary classifications include B01D (separation processes), B01J (chemical and physical processes) and C40B (combinatorial chemistry libraries), each in the 8-13 record range. Thinner classifications such as A61K (medicinal preparations) and C12Q (enzyme/DNA testing) mark where this measurement technology overlaps with pharmaceutical and biological applications.
The most-cited records in this dataset date back to the early 1990s and early 2000s, led by US6519032B1 on fiber-optic combinatorial material science with 140 citations, and US5104221A on polarization intensity differential scattering with 107. Their continued citation weight, even decades after filing, indicates that current particle-sizing and scattering methods are still built on these foundational techniques rather than replacing them. Anyone filing new claims in laser diffraction or dilution-based sizing should review this prior art directly rather than relying only on recent filings.
The IPC composition shows thin but present overlap with enzyme/DNA testing, polymer-solution processing and pharmaceutical aggregation detection, each represented by only a handful of records against a base of 93 G01N-classified filings. These intersections — for example, particle sizing coupled to enzymatic or DNA-based assays — are under-claimed relative to the dense core measurement-instrument claims. A first claim there would likely combine a specific detection chemistry with a defined particle-sizing or zeta-potential measurement step, rather than claiming either domain broadly on its own.
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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.