Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency Enhancement Patent Landscape
Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency Enhancement Patent Landscape in 2026
The perovskite solar cell efficiency enhancement field is in an active growth phase, with filings rising sharply on a multi-year basis and China-domiciled applicants holding an commanding structural lead. Trina Solar heads a top tier that spans both industrial manufacturers and research universities, with a 137% expansion in recent filing activity underscoring the field’s momentum.
Trina Solar leads a fragmented but China-concentrated field
Trina Solar Co. China at 48. The top five filers collectively account for 15% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating that no single applicant dominates the landscape outright.
The field is populated by a mix of industrial solar manufacturers, battery-sector diversifiers, and research universities — an unusual competitive structure that reflects both the applied and fundamental research dimensions of perovskite efficiency work. The gap between the leader and the tail of the top twenty is relatively compressed, suggesting a competitive rather than winner-take-all dynamic.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trina Solar Co. Ltd | 83 | |
| 2 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) | 67 | |
| 3 | UNIV OF ELECTRONICS SCI & TECH OF CHINA | 48 | |
| 4 | Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | 46 | |
| 5 | Nankai University | 43 | |
| 6 | Nanjing Tech University | 38 | |
| 7 | Soochow University | 38 | |
| 8 | Wuhan University | 37 | |
| 9 | Northwestern Polytechnical University | 34 | |
| 10 | HUAZHONG UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 32 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Shaanxi Normal University | 30 | |
| 12 | Nanjing University OF POSTS & TELECOMM | 29 | |
| 13 | Tongwei Solar Energy (Chengdu) Co. Ltd | 28 | |
| 14 | Southwest Petroleum University | 28 | |
| 15 | Wuhan University of Technology | 27 | |
| 16 | Zhejiang University | 27 | |
| 17 | Wuxi Utmost Light Technology Co. Ltd | 26 | |
| 18 | China Three Gorges Corporation | 25 | |
| 19 | South China University of Technology | 25 | |
| 20 | Henan University | 24 |
CATL’s second-place position signals that energy-storage companies are expanding aggressively into photovoltaic materials, while the prominence of universities in the top ten implies that fundamental IP is still being generated at scale and may be available for licensing or partnership.
The most recent filing years (2025–2026) are materially under-counted due to patent publication lag; the apparent deceleration at the tail of the trend is an artifact of this lag rather than a real change in activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Sustained annual growth and organic-semiconductor dominance define the field’s structure
The filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that has scaled rapidly since 2021 and is anchored in organic-semiconductor device architectures, with a long tail of adjacent chemistry and materials classes.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings grew from 99 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 562 in 2024, representing a 137% expansion in the most recent multi-year window. The 2025 and 2026 figures are substantially under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as a plateau or decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H10K (organic semiconductors) is the dominant IPC class, reflecting the centrality of organic charge-transport and absorber layers in perovskite architectures. H01L (semiconductor devices) forms a strong secondary cluster, while heterocyclic chemistry (C07D), organometallic compounds (C07F), and nanotechnology (B82Y) represent lower-volume but technically adjacent branches.
↗ 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.
MITTEL ZUR MINDERUNG VON KRISTALLDEFEKTEN FÜR HOHE…
This invention relates to an optoelectronic and/or photovoltaic device comprising a compound used as crystal defect mitigating agent or passivating agent, said compound being selected from a compound of formula (I) a compound of formula (II) a mixture thereof, or a compound of formula (III) being a compound of formula (I), of which substituent R is… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一种钙钛矿型太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 80 |
| 2 | Perovskite solar cell | 72 |
| 3 | 有机无机杂化钙钛矿基太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 70 |
| 4 | 一种钙钛矿太阳能电池的化学气相沉积制备方法 | 69 |
| 5 | 一种具有界面修饰层的钙钛矿太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 59 |
| 6 | 一种平面异质结钙钛矿太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 54 |
| 7 | 半导体钙钛矿太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 53 |
| 8 | 一种钙钛矿太阳能电池的制备方法 | 45 |
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 patent structure means for R&D strategy
China creates a distinctive set of strategic signals for teams evaluating where to invest.
Active growth phase — annual filings still rising
The lifecycle evidence places this field firmly in Growth stage: annual filings have risen steadily since 2017 and the multi-year growth rate stands at 137%. New entrants are still filing at scale, and the peak recorded year is 2024 with no confirmed easing. Teams entering now face a crowded but still-expanding space where foundational IP is actively being filed rather than consolidated.
Growth stageFragmented top tier with a wide mid-field
The top five filers hold 15% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, a relatively low share that confirms the field is not yet dominated by a small oligopoly. The top twenty includes both manufacturers (Trina Solar, CATL, Tongwei Solar, China Three Gorges) and universities (Nankai, Wuhan, Zhejiang, Huazhong), which means industrial players cannot rely solely on their own portfolios and must monitor academic output closely for freedom-to-operate risks.
FragmentedUtility-research and intra-group co-filing dominate partnerships
The most active co-filing pair is Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute with Huaneng Renewables Corporation (22 joint families), reflecting a utility group internalizing perovskite R&D. CATL and CATL Future Energy Research Institute (Shanghai) account for 18 joint families, indicating intra-group IP strategy. University-industry links include Trina Solar with Nanjing University (4 families) and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China with JA Solar (9 families), pointing to targeted academic partnerships as a key transfer mechanism.
Intra-group + academicChina-centric filing with limited international coverage
China accounts for the overwhelming majority of filing activity, with South Korea and WIPO (PCT) each recording 76 patent records, the United States at 48, and Europe (EPO) at 40. This geographic skew means that a significant portion of the corpus may not carry enforceable rights in key Western markets, creating potential freedom-to-operate windows for non-Chinese entrants filing in the US and Europe.
China-dominantGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | Huaneng Renewables Corporation Limited | 22 |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) | CATL Future Energy Research Institute (Shanghai) | 18 |
| University of Electronic Science and Technology of China | JA Solar Technology Co. Ltd | 9 |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | Huaneng Qinghai Power Generation Co. Ltd | 8 |
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | Huazhong University of Science and Technology Ezhou Industrial Technology Research Institute | 6 |
| Trina Solar Co. Ltd | Nanjing University | 4 |
| Northwestern Polytechnical University | Northwestern Polytechnical University Shenzhen Research Institute | 3 |
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute | 3 |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | Tsinghua University | 2 |
| Nankai University | China Three Gorges Corporation | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Trina Solar and CATL lead through organic-semiconductor device IP
The top two ranked applicants are both recent entrants to this specific corpus who have scaled rapidly, with both concentrating their portfolios in H10K organic-semiconductor device classes that map directly to perovskite layer engineering.
Trina Solar Co. Ltd
Ranked first with 83 patent families, Trina Solar entered this corpus as a new entrant in the most recent measurement window, signaling a deliberate and rapid pivot into perovskite efficiency IP. Its technology focus is concentrated in H10K30 (device structures, 72 families), H10K71 (fabrication processes, 65 families), and H10K85 (materials, 33 families) — a broad coverage that spans device architecture, deposition, and absorber composition.
families: 83Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL)
Ranked second with 67 patent families, CATL also entered as a new entrant in the recent window, reflecting a strategic diversification from battery chemistry into photovoltaic materials. Its portfolio emphasizes H10K30 (51 families), H10K85 (31 families), and H10K71 (20 families), closely mirroring Trina Solar’s class distribution and suggesting direct technological overlap. CATL’s intra-group co-filing with CATL Future Energy Research Institute (Shanghai) (18 joint families) indicates a structured internal R&D pipeline.
families: 67| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) | 73 | ▲ new entrant |
| Trina Solar Co. Ltd | 55 | ▲ new entrant |
| University of Electronic Science and Technology of China | 20 | ▲ +43% |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | 25 | ▲ +79% |
| Nankai University | 15 | ▲ +50% |
| Soochow University | 12 | ▲ new entrant |
| Nanjing Tech University | 20 | ▲ new entrant |
| Wuhan University | 19 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served routes in chemistry and nanotechnology adjacent to the dominant device stack
The corpus is heavily weighted toward organic-semiconductor device classes; several chemistry and materials IPC branches have comparatively low coverage and represent adjacent areas where new filings would encounter less direct prior art.
B82Y · Nanotechnology applications
With 94 patent records and a 2% share among the hundred largest filers’ combined output, nanotechnology-specific claims (B82Y) are sparse relative to the dominant H10K class. Nanostructured charge-transport layers, quantum-dot sensitizers, and nano-patterned electrodes are technically plausible efficiency levers in perovskite cells that map to this class. Teams with existing nanomaterials platforms could file here with reduced crowding risk, though commercial readiness of nano-enabled perovskite fabrication remains an open variable.
Search this in Eureka →C23C · Coating and surface deposition
C23C covers vapor-phase and surface deposition processes and holds only 40 patent records in the corpus, making it among the sparsest process-focused branches. Atomic layer deposition and chemical vapor deposition of perovskite absorber and buffer layers are active research directions with direct efficiency implications, yet this class remains lightly filed. One of the top-cited patents in the corpus explicitly addresses chemical vapor deposition preparation of perovskite solar cells, suggesting technical value is recognized but IP coverage is thin — a potential entry point for process-equipment and thin-film specialists.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by IPC technology route
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H10K 30 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H10K 71 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H01L 51 · Semiconductor devices | H10K 85 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H01L 31 · Semiconductor devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trina Solar Co. Ltd | Strong · 72 | Strong · 65 | Absent | Moderate · 33 | Absent |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) | Strong · 51 | Moderate · 20 | Absent | Strong · 31 | Moderate · 15 |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute | Strong · 30 | Strong · 27 | Strong · 16 | Strong · 22 | Absent |
| Nankai University | Strong · 28 | Strong · 23 | Strong · 15 | Strong · 22 | Absent |
| China Three Gorges Corporation | Strong · 24 | Strong · 23 | Absent | Strong · 15 | Absent |
| Nanjing Tech University | Strong · 22 | Strong · 20 | Strong · 16 | Absent | Absent |
| Tongwei Solar Energy (Chengdu) Co. Ltd | Strong · 24 | Strong · 21 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 2,669 patent families globally. Filing activity has grown 137% in the recent multi-year window, with the recorded annual peak at 562 families in 2024.
Trina Solar Co. Ltd holds the most patent families at 83, followed by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) at 67 and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China at 48. Both Trina Solar and CATL entered the corpus as new entrants in the most recent filing window.
Yes. Lifecycle evidence places the field in the Growth stage, with annual filings rising consistently since 2017. The apparent dip in 2025 and 2026 data reflects patent publication lag and should not be interpreted as a real slowdown.
China is the dominant filing jurisdiction by a wide margin. South Korea and WIPO (PCT) each record 76 patent records, followed by the United States at 48 and Europe (EPO) at 40. The geographic concentration in China means that coverage in Western markets remains comparatively thin.
H10K (organic semiconductors) is the leading IPC class, followed by H01L (semiconductor devices). Heterocyclic chemistry (C07D), organometallic compounds (C07F), and nanotechnology (B82Y) form a lower-volume secondary tier. Coating and deposition processes (C23C) are notably sparse given their technical relevance to perovskite fabrication.
The most active co-filing pairs are within corporate groups: Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute with Huaneng Renewables (22 joint families) and CATL with CATL Future Energy Research Institute (Shanghai) (18 joint families). University-industry links are present but smaller — for example, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China with JA Solar (9 families) and Trina Solar with Nanjing University (4 families) — suggesting that academic IP transfer through partnership agreements is an active but not yet dominant mechanism.
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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.
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