Garnet Electrolyte Interface Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- 62.4% concentration. The top 5 of 28 ranked assignees hold 53 of the 85 records in scope — 62.4% of the field — with a single leader at 17 records.
- Filings up 300%. Annual filings rose from 2 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a +300% climb over three years, even as 2025-2026 figures are still filling in behind publication lag.
- One family dominates citation counts. The nano-engineered coating family behind US20160351973A1 and its continuations (including US12401042B2) is cited far above any other record in the set.
Filing growth compares 2021 (2 records) with 2024 (8) — 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 85 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the interface between garnet-type solid electrolytes (such as LLZO) and electrode materials in all-solid-state battery constructions, spanning coating chemistries, interface engineering methods and cell architectures. The dataset covers 85 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search string targeting garnet-lithium interface, LLZO interface and solid electrolyte coating language paired with solid-state battery cell terminology.
Because the field is still young and publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years understate real filing activity. The picture below should be read as a record of claims staked through 2024, with 2025 and 2026 figures continuing to rise as later applications publish.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 85 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend: a slow start, then acceleration
Filings opened at 6 in 2017, peaked at 13 in 2018, and after a quieter stretch climbed again from 2 in 2021 to 8 in 2024 — a +300% three-year increase. Treat 2025 and 2026 counts as provisional; they will rise as pending applications publish.
Technology composition: battery-class claims dominate
H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells) appears in 97.6% of the 85 records, confirming that nearly every filing is framed as a battery or cell claim rather than a standalone materials claim. Ceramics (C04B, 7.1%) and other-metal compounds (C01G, 8.2%) show up as secondary framings, while coating deposition (C23C), electrolytic production (C25B) and separation processes (B01D) each appear in a single record — thin but real footholds outside the core battery classification.
Shares are the percentage of the 85 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Solid-State Batteries — Garnet-Electrolyte Interface Engineering Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
US12401042B2 — Nano-engineered coatings for anode, cathode and solid-state electrolyte materials
The disclosure covers a nano-engineered coating applied to cathode active materials, anode active materials and solid electrolyte materials to reduce corrosion and extend cycle life. It specifies a solid electrolyte particle coated with a protective layer of 100 nm or less, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) or molecular layer deposition (MLD), plus a porous scaffold coated by a first solid electrolyte coating.Filed by Forge Nano Inc., published 2025-08-26 — a continuation within the same family as the most-cited record in this dataset, US20160351973A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160351973A1 | Nano-engineered coatings for anode active materials, cathode active materials, and solid-state electrolytes a… | 292 |
| 2 | US20140099538A1 | Solid-State Battery Electrodes | 126 |
| 3 | US20110223487A1 | Electrochemical cell with sintered cathode and both solid and liquid electrolyte | 112 |
| 4 | CN107851840A | 用于阳极活性材料、阴极活性材料和固态电解质的纳米工程涂层及包含纳米工程涂层的电池的制造方法 | 83 |
| 5 | WO2016196688A1 | NANO-engineered coatings for anode active materials, cathode active materials, and solid-state electrolytes a… | 62 |
| 6 | US5770331A | Radiation curable frame for stacked cell construction and for edge sealing of electrolytic cells to retard de… | 42 |
| 7 | KR1020180076132A | Electrode active material-solid electrolyte composite, method for manufacturing the same, and all solid state… | 31 |
| 8 | KR1020180033838A | Electrode active material-solid electrolyte composite, method for manufacturing the same, and all solid state… | 29 |
| 9 | US20180366707A1 | Solid-state battery separators and methods of fabrication | 28 |
| 10 | US20180301752A1 | System and Method for Treating the Surface of Solid Electrolytes | 19 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later filers, not of current commercial relevance.
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 mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the records are grouped by assignee, geography and technology class.
A dense top tier, then a long tail
The top 5 of 28 ranked assignees account for 62.4% of all records, and the top 10 reach 81.2%. That leaves a thin tail of single- or double-filing entrants competing for the remaining space, which is a hard environment for a new entrant to build a defensible position without a distinct chemistry or process angle.
Growth is recent, not historical
The field peaked early in 2018 at 13 filings, cooled, then re-accelerated: filings grew from 2 in 2021 to 8 in 2024. That three-year jump signals renewed commercial interest in interface engineering specifically, distinct from the earlier wave of broader solid-state battery filings.
US and Korea lead receiving offices
The United States receives the largest share of filings (23), followed by South Korea (13), with Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) each at 11. Japan and Australia trail behind. This spread suggests the technology is being protected across multiple major markets rather than concentrated in a single jurisdiction.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solid-state batteries — garnet-electrolyte interface engineering patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is still open
The leading assignee holds 17 of the 85 records; the fifth-ranked holds 6 and the tenth-ranked holds 3, confirming a steep drop-off after the top few names.
One assignee well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 17 of the 85 records in scope, more than triple the fifth-place count of 6. Recent-year momentum data shows most of the historically active assignees recorded zero filings in the latest tracked year, while at least one mid-tier player logged 2 filings for a +100% year-on-year move — worth watching even from a small base.
Co-filing is rare but concentrated
Only 3 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset. The strongest pairing recurs across 4 shared filings, with two other pairs at 3 and 2 shared filings respectively, pointing to a small number of established supplier or licensing relationships rather than broad industry collaboration.
A crowded middle tier
Between the fifth-ranked assignee (6 records) and the tenth-ranked (3 records), several companies hold comparable small portfolios. This tier includes materials-coating specialists and at least one major automotive and one major university-affiliated filer, suggesting the interface-engineering niche draws both industrial and academic activity.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Umicore | 2 | +100% |
| PneumatiCoat Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) | 0 | — |
| Forge Nano Inc. | 0 | — |
| Johnson Battery Technologies Inc. | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of Michigan | 0 | — |
| Energy Power Systems LLC | 0 | — |
| Microsoft Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a few concrete next steps depending on whether you are scouting freedom-to-operate, tracking a competitor, or scoping a new filing.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on coating claims
With H01M appearing in 97.6% of records, most claims are framed at the battery-cell level even when the underlying invention is a coating or interface process. A targeted FTO search on the specific deposition method and thickness range is more useful than a broad solid-state battery search.
Explore this in EurekaTrack the leading assignee's continuation filings
The most-cited family in this dataset has continued publishing as recently as 2025 (US12401042B2). Continuation activity from the leading assignee is a reasonable proxy for where its next commercial claims will land.
Explore this in EurekaWatch the mid-tier for momentum shifts
Most historically active assignees show zero filings in the latest tracked year, while at least one shows a +100% year-on-year increase from a small base. A small, recent uptick from an otherwise quiet filer is worth a closer look before it shows up in the ranking.
Explore this in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee leads with 17 of the 85 records in this dataset, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 6 records. The top 5 of 28 ranked assignees together account for 62.4% of all records, and the top 10 reach 81.2%, so the field is concentrated at the top with a long tail of smaller filers. This concentration means a new entrant should expect dense prior art around the leading assignee's core coating and interface methods specifically, even though overall assignee count is modest at 28.
It is growing on the most recent complete data: filings rose from 2 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a +300% increase over that three-year span. There was an earlier peak of 13 filings in 2018 followed by a quieter period, so the current growth is a second wave rather than a continuation of the first. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the true 2025-2026 filing volume is higher than currently visible.
US12401042B2, assigned to Forge Nano Inc. and published 2025-08-26, claims a nano-engineered coating applied to cathode, anode and solid electrolyte materials, specifying a protective coating of 100 nm or less deposited by atomic layer deposition or molecular layer deposition, plus a porous scaffold coated by a first solid electrolyte coating. It sits within the same family as US20160351973A1, the most-cited record in this dataset at 292 citations, indicating a long-running and heavily referenced patent lineage. Anyone designing an ALD or MLD coating process for garnet or other solid electrolyte particles at comparable thickness should review this family closely.
IPC classes outside the dominant H01M battery category each appear in only one or a handful of the 85 records: coating and surface deposition (C23C), electrolytic production of compounds (C25B), separation processes (B01D), alkali-metal compounds (C01D) and steelmaking-adjacent processing (C21C) each sit at 1.2% of records. These low counts suggest claim space around specific production and processing routes for garnet materials remains comparatively open, though a single-record footprint also means there is little precedent to gauge examiner treatment.
The United States receives the largest share of tracked filings at 23, followed by South Korea at 13, with Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) each at 11. Australia follows at 6 and Japan at 5. The spread across multiple major receiving offices, rather than concentration in one jurisdiction, indicates that leading filers are pursuing multi-market protection for this technology rather than treating it as a single-country play.
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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.