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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/photovoltaic-glass-and-antisoiling-coatings-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · PV Module ReliabilityPhotovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coating Patents
- Concentrated at the top. The five most active filers account for 54.1% of all 74 records in scope, and the ten most active for 81.1% — this is a field with a narrow set of repeat filers, not a broad crowd.
- Coatings chemistry, not glass composition, is the busiest claim territory. C09D coating and ink classifications touch 48.6% of records, ahead of C03C glass compositions at 41.9% and G02B optical elements at 39.2%.
- Filing has kept climbing through the last complete year. Filings rose from 3 in 2021 to 4 in 2024, a 33% increase over that span, even as 2019 remains the single busiest year on record.
74
Published Records
54%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+33%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (4) — 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 74 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··8 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this dataset covers
This landscape tracks 74 published records at the intersection of photovoltaic glass, antireflective coatings and antisoiling surface treatments, drawn from a search spanning transmittance gain, soiling loss, abrasion durability, coating deposition method and self-cleaning surface claims. The scope favours documents that make a measurable durability or optical claim rather than general glass or coatings filings, so the set is narrower and more technically pointed than a broad "solar glass" search would return. Patent families, not raw document counts, are used for the assignee ranking, which neutralises continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates.
Coverage runs from 2015-01-01 through the 2026-07-31 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend line are undercounts and should be read as provisional rather than a sign of a slowdown.
Records in scope by filing year
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 74 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings started from 2 in 2017, peaked at 6 in 2019, and after a dip have climbed again — 3 in 2021 to 4 in 2024, a 33% rise over that three-year window. The most recent one to two years are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates, so treat 2025 and 2026 as partial.
Where the claims sit
C09D coating and ink formulations lead at 48.6% of the 74 records, with C03C glass and enamel compositions close behind at 41.9% and G02B optical elements at 39.2%. Smaller but persistent shares in A61K, A61Q, C01G and G02C (each 12.2%) point to crossover with ophthalmic and cosmetic coating chemistry rather than PV-specific work — a record can carry more than one class, so these figures add up to more than the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 74 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about photovoltaic glass and antisoiling coatings and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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The most-cited prior art in this space
Representative Record
US4830879A — Broadband antireflective coating composition and method
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE, 505 KING AVENUE COLUMBUS A CORP. OF OHIO
The invention relates to antireflective coatings and to a process for depositing the antireflective coatings on solar collector cover plates, optical elements such as lenses and windows in high-energy visible and near-IR lenses and on other glass or metal or metal-alloy or single crystal surfaces, including the steps of hydrolyzing an alkoxysilane, titanium alkoxide, aluminum alkoxide, tantalum alkoxide, niobium alkoxide, or other alkoxy compounds, or a mixture thereof, depending upon the final coating composition desired; to prepare polymeric solutions of the alkoxy compound/or compounds in which the polymer molecules or macromolecules grow with time; depositing the resulting film onto the target surface.Filed by Battelle Memorial Institute and issued 1989-05-16, this record is the most-cited document in the dataset at 214 citations, anchoring the sol-gel deposition route that much of the later coating art builds on.
Highest-citation records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4830879A | Broadband antireflective coating composition and method | 214 |
| 2 | US5619288A | Impact resistant plastic ophthalmic lens | 147 |
| 3 | US6099798A | Ultraviolet light block and photocatalytic materials | 55 |
| 4 | US20060148996A1 | Low refractive index fluoropolymer compositions having improved coating and durability properties | 33 |
| 5 | US20140009834A1 | Novel antireflective coatings with graded refractive index | 25 |
| 6 | WO2006073785A1 | Low refractive index fluoropolymer compositions having improved coating and durability properties | 21 |
| 7 | US20150276989A1 | Low temperature-curable antireflective coatings having tunable properties including optical, hydrophobicity a… | 19 |
| 8 | US20140186613A1 | Anti-reflection coatings with self-cleaning properties, substrates including such coatings, and related metho… | 18 |
| 9 | WO2011043973A1 | Perfluoropolyether coating composition for hard surfaces | 18 |
| 10 | US20110081496A1 | Perfluoropolyether Coating Composition for Hard Surfaces | 17 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-throughs from the concentration, composition and citation data above.
Concentration
54.1% / 81.1%
top 5 / top 10 share of 74 records
A narrow group of repeat filers, not a crowded field
With the five most active assignees holding 54.1% of the 74 records in scope and the ten most active holding 81.1%, most of the claim space in this dataset has already been staked by a small number of organisations. A new entrant is more likely to be negotiating around a handful of established portfolios than navigating a fragmented field.
Ranking covers 41 companies in total
Technology mix
48.6%
of records touch C09D coatings
Coating chemistry outweighs glass substrate claims
C09D coating and ink formulations appear in nearly half of all records, ahead of C03C glass compositions (41.9%) and G02B optical systems (39.2%). This suggests that surface treatment chemistry, applied after the glass is made, is where most of the recent inventive activity concentrates rather than in the base glass formulation itself.
Class shares overlap; a record can carry several IPC codes
Momentum
+33%
filing growth, 2021 to 2024
Activity is building again after the 2019 peak
Filings peaked at 6 in 2019, cooled, then rose from 3 in 2021 to 4 in 2024 — a 33% increase over that span. The most recent one or two years will read as lower simply because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, not because interest has dropped.
2025-2026 figures are still filling in
Cross-domain roots
214 citations
on the top-cited record
Ophthalmic and optical coating art underpins PV-specific claims
The most-cited record in the set, US4830879A, was written for solar collector cover plates and optical lenses broadly rather than PV modules specifically, and the dataset's smaller IPC shares in A61K, A61Q and G02C point to continued crossover from ophthalmic and cosmetic coating chemistry into PV glass claims.
Citation counts favour older, foundational filings
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to photovoltaic glass and antisoiling coatings, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the collaboration sits
The ranked leaders in this dataset span glass manufacturers, coatings specialists and ophthalmic lens makers whose antireflective work has migrated into PV glass claims.
Leader
12
records from the top-ranked assignee
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 12 of the 74 records in scope, more than double the fifth-place filer's count of 5, which points to a sustained, deliberate filing programme rather than opportunistic patenting.
Fifth place holds 5 records; tenth place holds 3
Long tail
41 companies
in the full assignee ranking
A long tail behind a concentrated core
Beyond the top ten, filing activity spreads thinly across dozens of organisations with a handful of records each, typical of a field where specialist coating houses and university-adjacent research centres file opportunistically alongside the established leaders.
Ranking is counted in records, not families beyond the 74 total
Collaboration
10 pairs
co-assignee pairings identified
Co-filing is concentrated among a small inventor cluster
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest links repeating across three individual inventors — a pattern consistent with a small internal team filing jointly rather than broad industry consortia.
Strongest pairs each appear on 3 shared records
Recent-year filing momentum
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Corning Incorporated | 1 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Company | 0 | — |
| NanoGram Corporation | 0 | — |
| Essilor International | 0 | — |
| DEVOS JOHN ARTHUR | 0 | — |
| Guardian Industries Corp. | 0 | — |
| International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) | 0 | — |
| BOROSIL RENEWABLES LTD | 0 | -100% |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated leadership group and a coating-chemistry-heavy claim landscape — the next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or identifying open filing space.
Map claims against the leading portfolios directly
With 81.1% of records held by the ten most active filers, a freedom-to-operate review should start by pulling the full claim sets of the top-ranked assignees rather than sampling the long tail.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches before drafting
Sub-areas such as sand-abrasion-specific testing methods and photocatalytic self-cleaning layers show thinner coverage than the core coating and glass classes, worth a targeted prior-art check before committing claim language.
Run a white-space search in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about photovoltaic glass and antisoiling coating patents
The dataset's leading assignee holds 12 of the 74 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 5 and the tenth-ranked filer at 3. The five most active assignees together account for 54.1% of all records, and the ten most active for 81.1%, meaning most of the field's claim space is already held by a small group of repeat filers. A new entrant should expect to negotiate around these established portfolios rather than find open ground among many small filers.
Coating and ink formulations under IPC class C09D appear in 48.6% of the 74 records, making surface treatment chemistry the single busiest claim area. Glass and enamel compositions (C03C) follow at 41.9% and optical element and system claims (G02B) at 39.2%. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, but the pattern is consistent: post-glass surface treatment draws more recent filing activity than the base glass substrate itself.
Filing activity peaked at 6 records in 2019, dipped afterward, and then climbed again from 3 records in 2021 to 4 in 2024 — a 33% increase over that three-year span. The 2025 and 2026 figures in the dataset are lower, but that reflects the roughly eighteen-month lag between filing and publication rather than an actual slowdown. Any read on the most recent one to two years should be treated as provisional until later filings finish publishing.
US4830879A, assigned to Battelle Memorial Institute and issued in 1989, describes a sol-gel process for depositing antireflective coatings from hydrolyzed alkoxysilane and metal alkoxide solutions onto glass, metal and optical surfaces including solar collector cover plates. It is the most-cited record in the dataset at 214 citations, which makes it a foundational reference for later coating deposition claims rather than a currently enforceable barrier, since the patent term for a 1989 issuance has long since expired. New filers should still study its claim structure closely, because much of the sol-gel deposition art that followed builds directly on its method steps.
The technology composition data shows thinner coverage in sub-areas like sand-abrasion-specific durability testing, self-cleaning surface texturing that does not rely on added coating chemistry, and coating deposition methods scoped specifically to large-format PV cover glass. These sit adjacent to the dominant C09D and C03C classes but are not the primary focus of most records in the dataset. A first claim in these areas would need to specify the testing protocol or substrate scale precisely enough to distinguish it from the broader optical and ophthalmic coating art the dataset also contains.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Photovoltaic Glass and Antisoiling Coatings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.