Perovskite Solar Cells Patent Landscape 2026 2026
Perovskite Solar Cells Patent Landscape in 2026
With 8,014 patent families on record and a 263% growth rate over the recent filing window, perovskite solar cells represent one of the fastest-expanding fronts in photovoltaics IP. Chinese manufacturers now dominate the applicant ranking, with Trina Solar leading at 259 families, though a handful of Korean and European players hold strategically differentiated positions.
Trina Solar leads a China-heavy field with meaningful challengers from Korea and Europe
The corpus spans 8,014 patent families. Among the hundred largest filers, ranked by patent families, Trina Solar Co. Ltd. holds first place with 259 families, followed by Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) at 180 and Hanwha Solutions at 135.
The top five filers account for 18% of the combined output of the hundred largest applicants—a moderate concentration that signals room for mid-tier players to compete. The gap between the leader (259 families) and the fifth-ranked Oxford Photovoltaics (130 families) is meaningful but not insurmountable for well-resourced entrants.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trina Solar Co. Ltd. | 259 | |
| 2 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. | 180 | |
| 3 | Hanwha Solutions Corp. | 135 | |
| 4 | Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd. | 130 | |
| 5 | Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd. | 122 | |
| 6 | Zhejiang JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | 97 | |
| 7 | Wuxi Utmost Light Technology Co. Ltd. | 96 | |
| 8 | Contemporary Amperex Technology (Hong Kong) Limited | 95 | |
| 9 | Oxford University Innovation Ltd. | 84 | |
| 10 | RES & BUSINESS FOUND SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV | 84 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) | 77 | |
| 12 | Tongwei Solar Energy (Chengdu) Co. Ltd. | 75 | |
| 13 | Chint New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. | 74 | |
| 14 | JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | 73 | |
| 15 | CubicPV Inc. | 70 | |
| 16 | Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology | 70 | |
| 17 | Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | 67 | |
| 18 | LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. Ltd. | 67 | |
| 19 | Xi’an TJ-Solar New Energy Co. Ltd. | 65 | |
| 20 | Alliance for Energy Innovation LLC | 64 |
The presence of both manufacturing heavyweights (Trina Solar, CATL, JinkoSolar entities) and specialist innovators (Oxford Photovoltaics, Oxford University Innovation, NREL’s Alliance for Sustainable Energy) indicates a field where process-scale know-how and fundamental device science coexist—an important signal for technology-licensing and partnership strategies.
Rankings and the corpus total are measured at the patent-family level, so a single invention is counted once regardless of how many national filings it generates. Branch, jurisdiction, and route-matrix figures are at the patent-record level; because one family can carry multiple IPC classes or be filed across multiple offices, those record counts exceed the family total and are not directly comparable to it. The most recent 18–24 months of filings are systematically under-counted due to publication lag; treat 2025–2026 figures as lower bounds.
Filing volume has surged since 2021 and the device-physics class dominates the technology mix
Two charts together reveal both the pace and the composition of innovation: annual filing volume shows the trajectory of commercial interest, while the IPC breakdown identifies which technical branches are crowded and which remain lightly contested.
Annual filing trend
Annual families climbed from 249 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 1,931 in 2024, with the field in a confirmed growth stage. The 2025 figure of 1,458 and the 2026 figure of 131 are substantially under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown; the evidence base supports continued expansion.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H10K (organic semiconductors, the primary perovskite device class) accounts for the largest share of patent records at 6,415, followed by H01L (semiconductor devices) at 2,707. H02S (photovoltaic system integration) at 618 and H01G (capacitors, relevant to charge-transport layers) at 394 are notably smaller, flagging under-represented adjacent branches. Downstream system-integration and materials-chemistry classes each represent a fraction of the dominant device-physics class.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaFoundational and most-cited patents
The most-cited families that anchor this space. Hover a row and click to open it in Eureka.
Energy-efficient cooling of a perovskite solar cell
A method for control of a cooling device for the active cooling of a perovskite solar cell, wherein the perovskite solar cell is part of a perovskite photovoltaic module. The method includes determining a measure of the internal temperature of the perovskite solar cell and activating the cooling device when the determined measure of the internal temperature… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
Open this patent in Eureka →| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Optoelectronic device | 513 |
| 2 | Optoelectronic device | 195 |
| 3 | Photovoltaic device comprising a metal halide pero… | 97 |
| 4 | Detector for an optical detection of at least one … | 93 |
| 5 | Optoelectronic device comprising perovskites | 85 |
| 6 | Perovskite schottky type solar cell | 82 |
| 7 | Optoelectronic device comprising porous scaffold m… | 80 |
| 8 | Quantum-dot-in-perovskite solids | 77 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts accrue over time, so this list favours older, broadly-cited patents and may include general-purpose work beyond the specific topic; treat it as foundational context rather than a current-activity ranking.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of rapid growth, a two-tier competitive structure, strong co-filing networks, and a China-dominant filing geography shapes where and how new entrants can compete most efficiently.
Growth stage: annual volume still rising, no sign of saturation
The lifecycle evidence places perovskite solar cells firmly in the Growth stage. Annual filings rose from 249 in 2017 to 1,931 in 2024, a 263% expansion over the recent window, with the peak year recorded as 2024 and no easing from that peak confirmed in the evidence. This trajectory suggests fundamental and applied research investment remains commercially justified, though crowding in the dominant H10K device class is already material.
Growth stageModerate leader-to-field gap; mid-tier window remains open
The top five applicants hold 18% of the hundred largest filers’ combined families—moderate by IP-landscape standards. The leader-to-fifth gap (259 vs. 130 families) is real but not prohibitive for a focused entrant. The ranking’s second tier—JinkoSolar entities, Wuxi Utmost Light, Oxford University Innovation, TNO, and Tongwei—each hold 75–97 families, indicating a healthy challenger cohort that keeps the field competitive below the top two or three.
Moderate concentrationCorporate–affiliate and university–national-lab co-filing are the dominant collaboration patterns
The most active co-filing pair is Zhejiang JinkoSolar and JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. (67 joint families), reflecting tight intra-group coordination. CATL and its Shanghai Future Energy Research Institute co-file on 51 families. Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute co-files with Huaneng New Energy (43 families) and Huaneng Qinghai (37 families). The Alliance for Sustainable Energy (NREL) co-files with the University of Louisville Research Foundation and First Solar (12 families each), and with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (10 families)—illustrating a US national-lab-to-industry bridge model. Sungkyunkwan University’s industry-liaison body co-files with a multiscale energy systems group (34 families), signalling an active Korean academic-industrial pipeline.
Intra-group & lab–industryChina is the primary filing office; US and EPO anchor international protection
At the patent-record level, China accounts for 4,423 records, by far the largest single office, reflecting both the domestic dominance of Chinese applicants and their home-market filing strategy. The United States follows at 1,243 records and the EPO at 717, with PCT (WIPO) at 579 providing a bridge for applicants seeking broad international coverage. South Korea at 506 records underscores that country’s industry and academic activity. Coverage in India (219), Germany (190), and Japan (147) is meaningful but secondary; Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern offices carry modest counts.
China-dominant, US/EPO secondaryGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Zhejiang JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | 67 |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. | Contemporary Amperex Future Energy Research Institute (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. | 51 |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd. | Huaneng Renewables Corporation Limited | 43 |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd. | Huaneng Qinghai Power Generation Co. Ltd. | 37 |
| 成均馆大学校产学协力团 | Global Frontier Centre for Multiscale Energy Systems | 34 |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | University of Louisville Research Foundation Inc. | 12 |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | First Solar Inc. | 12 |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | 10 |
| Zhejiang JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | JinkoSolar (Haining) Co. Ltd. | 9 |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | Northern Illinois University | 8 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Trina Solar and CATL lead on volume; Oxford Photovoltaics and Oxford University Innovation lead on semiconductor-device depth
The top applicants split into two strategic archetypes: Chinese manufacturers and energy-company subsidiaries filing at high volume with an H10K device focus, and Western specialist innovators filing at lower volume but concentrated in fundamental semiconductor-device and materials classes.
Trina Solar Co. Ltd.
Trina Solar leads the ranking with 259 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in the recent momentum window—meaning the bulk of its 183 recently filed families arrived with little or no prior-period baseline, indicating a very rapid strategic build-out. Its technology focus is concentrated across H10K subclasses (organic/perovskite device structures, fabrication processes, and materials), consistent with a manufacturer targeting production-ready perovskite cell and module architectures.
families: 259Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd.
Oxford Photovoltaics holds 130 families and shows a declining recent trend (−52% vs. prior three-year period), suggesting a consolidation or portfolio-maturation phase rather than continued aggressive filing. Its technology emphasis is differentiated from the Chinese manufacturing cohort: the top classes are H01L31 (photovoltaic semiconductor devices, 65 records) and H01L51 (organic semiconductor devices, 42 records), alongside H10K30 (40 records). This classical semiconductor-device framing reflects its perovskite-on-silicon tandem cell heritage and positions it as a technology licensor rather than a volume filer.
families: 130| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Trina Solar Co. Ltd. | 183 | ▲ new entrant |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. | 191 | ▲ 9.6× vs prior 3-yr |
| Hanwha Solutions Corp. | 86 | ▲ 3.7× vs prior 3-yr |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | 52 | ▲ +108% |
| Oxford University Innovation Ltd. | 16 | ▼ -48% |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd. | 82 | ▲ new entrant |
| Zhejiang JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. | 66 | ▲ +187% |
| Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd. | 16 | ▼ -52% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant device-physics class
The following IPC classes carry materially fewer patent records than the dominant H10K and H01L classes, yet each maps to a technically plausible aspect of perovskite solar cell development. They are observations of relative sparsity—only teams with a credible technical entry path should treat them as investment candidates.
H02S · Photovoltaic / solar power generation (system integration)
With 618 patent records, H02S is the third-largest branch but sits at less than one-tenth the scale of H10K. This class covers the balance-of-system aspects of solar power—mounting, inverters, string wiring, and grid connection—that become critical as perovskite cells approach module-level commercialisation. Most current filings address the cell or stack; teams with expertise in system integration or power electronics could exploit a comparatively open space by anchoring perovskite-specific reliability and degradation management into H02S claims. Entry requires both device knowledge and power-systems engineering, which limits the competitive field.
Search this in Eureka →C23C · Coating & surface deposition
C23C carries 281 patent records, representing roughly 4% of the H10K record count. Perovskite absorber and charge-transport layers are deposited by a variety of thin-film techniques (chemical vapour deposition, atomic layer deposition, sputtering), and process control at scale is a known commercialisation bottleneck. The relative sparsity in C23C suggests that deposition-process IP—as distinct from device-architecture IP—is under-claimed. Organisations with thin-film deposition equipment or process know-how (including equipment makers not currently prominent in this landscape) could build differentiated positions here.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across technology routes
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H10K 30 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H10K 71 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H10K 85 · Organic semiconductors (OLED etc.) | H01L 31 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 51 · Semiconductor devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trina Solar Co. Ltd. | Strong · 243 | Strong · 205 | Moderate · 120 | Absent | Absent |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. | Strong · 197 | Moderate · 84 | Moderate · 94 | Moderate · 55 | Absent |
| Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute Co. Ltd. | Strong · 115 | Strong · 95 | Strong · 59 | Absent | Absent |
| Oxford University Innovation Ltd. | Strong · 56 | Absent | Strong · 46 | Strong · 86 | Strong · 58 |
| Hanwha Solutions Corp. | Strong · 130 | Moderate · 38 | Strong · 72 | Absent | Absent |
| Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC | Strong · 71 | Absent | Strong · 39 | Strong · 64 | Strong · 37 |
| Wuxi Utmost Light Technology Co. Ltd. | Strong · 91 | Strong · 70 | Moderate · 33 | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The evidence corpus contains 8,014 patent families globally, spanning roughly the last decade of activity across all major filing offices.
Trina Solar Co. Ltd. leads the applicant ranking with 259 patent families. It is followed by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) at 180 families and Hanwha Solutions Corp. at 135 families.
Yes. The lifecycle evidence classifies the field as Growth stage, with annual families rising from 249 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 1,931 in 2024, representing a 263% expansion over the recent filing window. The 2025–2026 figures are under-counted due to publication lag.
China is the dominant office at 4,423 patent records, followed by the United States at 1,243, the EPO at 717, WIPO (PCT) at 579, and South Korea at 506. These counts are at the patent-record level, so a single family filing in multiple offices contributes to each relevant jurisdiction’s total.
H10K (organic semiconductors, which includes the primary perovskite device class) accounts for 6,415 patent records—by far the largest branch. H01L (semiconductor devices) follows at 2,707 records. All other branches, including H02S (photovoltaic system integration) at 618 and H01G (capacitors/charge-transport) at 394, are materially smaller.
The most active co-filing pair is Zhejiang JinkoSolar and JinkoSolar Co. Ltd. with 67 joint families. CATL and its Shanghai Future Energy Research Institute co-file on 51 families, and the Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute co-files with Huaneng New Energy on 43 families. In the US, the Alliance for Sustainable Energy (NREL) co-files with the University of Louisville Research Foundation and First Solar (12 families each).
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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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