Silicon Anode Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has already peaked. Filings rose to 44 in 2022 and have not exceeded that since — this is a maturing claim landscape, not an accelerating one.
- One IPC class carries almost everything. 319 of 319 records sit in H01M, with C01B a distant second at 35 — composite and coating chemistry claims are the crowded ground, not device architecture.
- The US is the primary filing venue. 127 records were filed at the USPTO versus 58 at the EPO and 39 via WIPO/PCT, so freedom-to-operate work should start with US prior art.
Filing growth compares 2021 (41 records) with 2024 (19) — 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 319 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the silicon anode patent record actually shows
Silicon anode work sits at the intersection of materials chemistry and cell engineering: claims cover silicon-carbon composite structures, SiOx formulations, and the nanostructuring and coating strategies used to manage volume expansion and SEI instability across repeated cycling. The dataset behind this page covers 319 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search combining silicon anode terminology with volume-expansion, prelithiation and cycle-retention language inside the core battery and inorganic-chemistry IPC classes.
Filing activity climbed steadily through the late 2010s, peaked at 44 families in 2022, and has not returned to that level since. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any such trend will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — but the plateau starting well before that lag window suggests genuine flattening, not just a reporting gap.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 319-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the underlying claim density.
A decade of filing, front-loaded toward 2022
Filings grew from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 44 in 2022, then eased off. A flat-to-declining trend after a mid-decade peak typically means the core composite and coating approaches are well staked out, and later entrants are filing narrower, more defensive claims rather than opening new ground.
H01M dominates; everything else is peripheral
Every one of the 319 records touches H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells). C01B (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds) is the only other class with meaningful volume at 35, with coating (C23C), semiconductor (H01L), polymer (C08F), nanotechnology (B82Y) and power-systems (H02J) classes each contributing single digits to low teens. That concentration means most of the differentiated intellectual property is happening inside battery-class claims themselves, not in adjacent materials or device classes.
Shares are the percentage of the 319 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Silicon Anode Materials for Lithium Batteries with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about silicon anode materials for lithium batteries and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art and a recent representative filing
US20230238517A1 — Bilayer-structured silicon carbon composite anode material
A bilayer-structured silicon carbon composite anode material, a method of preparing the same, and a secondary battery including the same is provided. The method of preparing the anode material includes: drying a first mixture including graphite balls, a nano-silicon slurry, pitch, and flake graphite to prepare a dried product; sintering the dried product to prepare a sintered product including a hard coating layer formed on an outermost surface thereof and containing amorphous hard carbon; mixing the sintered product with a carbon precursor, followed by heat treatment to form a soft coating layer on an outer circumferential surface of the sintered product; and forming a carbon nanotube layer.Filed by LEMON ENERGY INC., published 2023-07-27.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7402829B2 | Structured silicon anode | 210 |
| 2 | WO2004042851A2 | Structured silicon anode | 132 |
| 3 | US20090053608A1 | Anode active material hybridizing carbon nanofiber for lithium secondary battery | 113 |
| 4 | WO2008139157A1 | A silicon anode for a rechargeable battery | 96 |
| 5 | GB2395059A | Sructured silicon anode | 85 |
| 6 | US20060097691A1 | Structured silicon anode | 83 |
| 7 | US20170294643A1 | Tin silicon anode active material | 81 |
| 8 | US20190181440A1 | Prelithiated and methods for prelithiating an energy storage device | 79 |
| 9 | US20130078508A1 | Lithium ion batteries based on nanoporous silicon | 72 |
| 10 | WO2007044315A1 | Method of using an electrochemical cell | 57 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations inside this corpus — treat them as a measure of influence on subsequent filers, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing or freedom-to-operate decision
Three findings that shape where to look next, drawn directly from the filing and citation record.
The core chemistry is already staked out
A peak in 2022 followed by a flat-to-declining trend usually means the foundational composite and coating claims are filed and the remaining room is in refinements: specific dopants, layer sequencing, particle morphology. New entrants should expect to compete on narrow, defensible improvements rather than broad composition claims.
Claim density sits almost entirely in one IPC class
With C01B a distant second at 35 records and every other class in single or low double digits, the battery-class claims themselves — not adjacent materials or semiconductor classes — are where prior art risk concentrates. Searches limited to C01B or C23C alone will miss the great majority of relevant prior art.
The US is the default first filing venue
US filings outnumber EPO filings more than two to one, and WIPO/PCT filings sit below both, suggesting many applicants treat the US as the primary market rather than routing through PCT first. China, India and South Korea each account for meaningfully smaller shares, which is worth noting for anyone assuming this is primarily an East Asian filing story.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to silicon anode materials for lithium batteries, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| BTR New Material Group Co., Ltd. | Panasonic Corporation | 3 |
| Nexeon Limited | GREEN MINO | 2 |
| Imperial Innovations Limited | GREEN MINO | 2 |
Only three co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, the strongest linking a Chinese materials producer with a Japanese electronics manufacturer — evidence of occasional joint development rather than a pattern of industry-wide collaboration.
Who holds the ground, and where momentum has stalled
Recent-year filing momentum across the tracked assignees shows almost no fresh activity in the latest year, which is consistent with a claim landscape past its filing peak rather than one still being actively built out.
Even established filers have gone quiet
Assignees that built meaningful portfolios earlier in the decade, including university-affiliated and battery-specialist filers, show zero filings in the most recent tracked year. Some of that is publication lag, but the breadth of the pause across nearly every major assignee points to a genuine slowdown rather than a reporting artefact for any one filer.
At least one filer has stepped back sharply
One tracked assignee shows a full year-over-year drop to zero filings, a sharper signal than the broader plateau across the rest of the field. Whether that reflects a strategic pivot, a licensing deal, or simply a gap year in filing needs checking against that assignee's broader portfolio outside this search.
Joint development is the exception
Across 319 families, only three co-assignee pairs appear, and each pair shares just two or three joint filings. That is a landscape of independently prosecuted portfolios rather than one shaped by joint ventures or shared R&D agreements, which matters for anyone assessing partnership or licensing risk.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Nexeon Limited | 0 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Company | 0 | — |
| Imperial Innovations Limited | 0 | — |
| Livent USA Corp. | 0 | -100% |
| BTR New Material Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| A123 Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Lemon Energy Inc. | 0 | — |
| Solvay Specialty Polymers Italy S.p.A. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this from here
The filing and citation data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or new filing strategy.
Map claims against the H01M concentration
With every record touching H01M, a freedom-to-operate review needs to work inside that class in detail rather than scanning adjacent materials classes for comfort.
Explore the IPC breakdown in Eureka →Watch for renewed filing after the 2022 peak
A plateau after a peak year can precede either abandonment of a sub-field or a second wave once commercialization data comes in — worth tracking assignee-level filings going forward.
Set up assignee tracking in Eureka →Check the quiet assignees against wider portfolios
Zero recent-year filings across most tracked assignees may reflect publication lag rather than real inactivity, so cross-check against each assignee's broader filing history outside this search string.
Run a full assignee search in Eureka →Common questions about silicon anode patents
The most-cited records in this dataset include US7402829B2 and WO2004042851A2, both titled around structured silicon anode designs, alongside GB2395059A and WO2008139157A1 covering similar structural approaches, plus US20090053608A1 on carbon-nanofiber hybrid anode materials. High citation counts reflect how much later filings built on these documents, which makes them useful starting points for prior art searches but not necessarily the patents with the broadest commercial reach today. A full freedom-to-operate check should treat these as anchors rather than a complete list, since 319 families sit in the wider corpus.
No — filings rose from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 44 in 2022, and have not matched that peak in any year since. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very latest years in this trend will always look artificially low, but the plateau begins early enough that it looks like a real slowdown rather than a data lag. That pattern is consistent with a technology where the core composite and coating claims are largely staked out and remaining filings are increasingly incremental.
H01M, the core battery and fuel-cell classification, covers all 319 records in this dataset, making it the class to search first and most thoroughly. C01B, covering non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds, is the only other class with meaningful volume at 35 records. Coating (C23C), semiconductor (H01L), polymer (C08F), nanotechnology (B82Y) and power-systems (H02J) classes each contribute only single digits to low teens, meaning most differentiated claim language sits inside battery-specific filings rather than adjacent materials or device classes.
The United States carries the heaviest filing volume at 127 records, more than double the EPO's 58 and well above WIPO/PCT's 39, so US prior art searches need the most scrutiny before filing there. China, India and South Korea show comparatively lighter volume at 27, 14 and 13 respectively, which may indicate either less competitive pressure or simply less mature filing practice in those jurisdictions for this specific technology. Either way, a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction prior art check is more useful here than treating this as a single global landscape.
Rarely, based on the co-assignee data: only three co-assignee pairs appear across the full 319-family corpus, and the strongest of them shares just three joint filings between a Chinese materials producer and a Japanese electronics manufacturer. The other two pairs each share two filings. This suggests that most silicon anode intellectual property is being developed and prosecuted independently rather than through joint ventures or shared research agreements, which is a relevant data point for anyone evaluating partnership risk or looking for licensing opportunities.
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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.