Solid-State Battery Electrolytes Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing has already peaked. annual filings rose to 477 in 2024 before pulling back, and the leading assignees show year-on-year declines as steep as -100% into the latest filed year.
- Two automaker pairings dominate co-filing. one co-assignee pair alone accounts for 124 shared families, far ahead of the next closest pairing at 63 — a sign that joint development, not solo R&D, drives the top of this field.
- Claim density is uneven across chemistries. H01M battery-cell claims cover almost the entire corpus (3,007 of 3,009 families) while ceramics (C04B) and polymer-processing (C08J, C08F) subclasses sit an order of magnitude lower.
Filing growth compares 2021 (255 records) with 2024 (477) — 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 3,009 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This review tracks patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that claim solid-state electrolyte materials or architectures inside lithium battery cells, filtered to documents that specifically address sulfide electrolytes, garnet electrolytes, interfacial resistance, lithium dendrite suppression, or ionic conductivity. The corpus sits at the intersection of battery-cell claims (IPC H01M) and the underlying inorganic chemistry (C01B, C01G, C04B), which is where most of the enforceable material-composition and cell-architecture claims are written. Filing activity spans automakers, cell makers, and university technology-transfer offices, with receiving-office data showing the United States, the European Patent Office and China as the three largest filing destinations.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent filing year in any trend line understates real activity — 2026 figures in particular should be read as a partial, still-rising count rather than a finished total.
Filing trends and technology composition
The filing curve and the IPC breakdown together show a field that grew steadily through the late 2010s, peaked in the mid-2020s, and is now concentrated almost entirely in core battery-cell claims rather than spreading into adjacent materials science.
A peak-and-decline filing curve
Annual filings climbed from 125 in 2017 to a peak of 477 in 2024, passing through 331 at the 2022 midpoint. The pullback since 2024, combined with steep year-on-year declines among the largest assignees, points to a field consolidating its claim positions rather than continuing to expand them.
Claims cluster in battery-cell architecture
H01M covers effectively the entire corpus at 3,007 of 3,009 families, confirming that most filings claim electrolyte function inside a cell rather than the electrolyte material in isolation. Supporting chemistry classes — C01G, H01B and C01B each near 180 records, C04B at 109 — are populated but noticeably thinner, and polymer-based classes C08F and C08J sit under 40 records each, the clearest sign of where composition-level claim space remains open.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,009 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Solid-State Battery Electrolytes with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about solid-state battery electrolytes and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this corpus
All-solid-state battery and application thereof — AESC Japan
The claim describes a three-layer solid electrolyte stack: separate electrolyte layers on the positive and negative electrode sides, each with its own defined ionic-conductivity range, sandwiching a third electrolyte layer between them with a conductivity range that overlaps the negative-side layer. Structuring conductivity by layer, rather than specifying a single bulk electrolyte, is the notable design choice.Filed 2026-04-30. Numbers and assignee are rendered from the underlying record, not restated here.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150364747A1 | Materials for solid state electrolytes and protective electrode coatings for lithium batteries | 400 |
| 2 | US20160351973A1 | Nano-engineered coatings for anode active materials, cathode active materials, and solid-state electrolytes a… | 291 |
| 3 | US20150099188A1 | Garnet materials for li secondary batteries and methods of making and using garnet materials | 209 |
| 4 | US20140287305A1 | Ion conducting batteries with solid state electrolyte materials | 192 |
| 5 | US20150099190A1 | Garnet materials for li secondary batteries and methods of making and using garnet materials | 175 |
| 6 | US20090092903A1 | Low Cost Solid State Rechargeable Battery and Method of Manufacturing Same | 156 |
| 7 | US20150200420A1 | Garnet materials for li secondary batteries and methods of making and using garnet materials | 127 |
| 8 | US20120251871A1 | All-solid-state battery | 125 |
| 9 | US20150056520A1 | Impregnated sintered solid state composite electrode, solid state battery, and methods of preparation | 116 |
| 10 | US20030232248A1 | All solid state battery | 115 |
Citation counts are drawn from the searched corpus only and favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations; treat them as a measure of influence on later filings, not of present-day commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns in this dataset matter more than the raw counts: where citations concentrate, how filing volume has moved, and how narrow the receiving-office spread is.
Early garnet and coating filings anchor the field
The single most-cited record in this corpus, on solid-state electrolyte materials and protective electrode coatings, draws 400 citations — well ahead of the next tier. Several of the top five most-cited records concern garnet materials specifically, indicating that garnet chemistry claims from the mid-2010s remain the reference point later filers had to design around.
The field has passed its filing peak
Filings rose from 125 in 2017 to a peak of 477 in 2024, then declined toward 61 in the latest, still-partial year. Leading assignees mirror this: year-on-year filings are down 84% to 100% among the most active companies, which is a stronger signal than the raw yearly total because it holds across multiple large filers simultaneously.
Filing is concentrated in three offices
The United States, the European Patent Office and China together account for the large majority of receiving-office activity, with the US alone at 1,035 filings. South Korea and India trail well behind at 142 and 130 respectively, suggesting that enforcement risk and freedom-to-operate work should prioritise the three largest jurisdictions first.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solid-state battery electrolytes, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Company | Kia Corporation | 124 |
| LG Energy Solution | The Regents of the University of California | 63 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University | 14 |
| Kia Corporation | Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University | 14 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | SNU R&DB Foundation | 10 |
| Kia Corporation | SNU R&DB Foundation | 9 |
| LG Energy Solution | Korea Electronics Technology Institute | 8 |
| LG Energy Solution | Kyung Hee University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 8 |
Of ten identified co-assignee pairs, one automaker pairing accounts for 124 shared families and a cell-maker/university pairing accounts for 63 — together dwarfing the remaining eight pairs, which suggests joint-development agreements rather than open collaboration drive the densest claim clusters.
Who holds the ground, and who is pulling back
Momentum data tells a different story from cumulative rankings: several of the largest historical filers have all but stopped filing in the latest year, while joint ventures between automakers and cell makers still hold the densest co-filing positions.
LG Energy Solution retains the largest active filing rate
Even after an 84% year-on-year decline, LG Energy Solution's 11 filings in the latest year are the highest among the tracked assignees, meaning the pullback is a slowdown from a larger base rather than an exit from the field.
The strongest historical co-filing pair has gone to zero
Hyundai and Kia, the pairing behind 124 shared families — the largest co-assignee relationship in this dataset — both show zero filings in the latest year, a complete stop after what was the densest joint-filing relationship in the corpus.
Academic-industry pairing remains a distinct cluster
The University of California Board of Regents' co-filing relationship with LG Energy Solution, at 63 shared families, is the second-largest pairing in the dataset and points to sustained joint work on electrolyte materials rather than a one-off collaboration.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| LG Energy Solution | 11 | -84% |
| Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. | 5 | -91% |
| The Regents of the University of California | 2 | -89% |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 0 | -100% |
| Kia Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 0 | — |
| LG Chem, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The trend and ranking data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing, or identifying open claim space.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the top-cited records
The five most-cited records in this corpus, several concerning garnet materials and protective coatings, are the prior art most likely to be cited against a new filing in this space.
Search citing patents in EurekaTrack the co-filing pairs before assuming a company files alone
The largest positions in this field belong to joint automaker and university pairings, not single assignees, so a competitive read that only ranks individual companies will miss the real claim structure.
Explore assignee networks in EurekaWatch the under-claimed IPC classes for open filing space
Polymer-processing and ceramic-sintering classes carry a fraction of the filings that core battery-cell claims do, which is where new composition or process claims face the least dense prior art.
Build a white-space report in EurekaCommon questions about solid-state electrolyte patents
Filing activity concentrates among a small group of automakers, cell makers and university technology-transfer offices rather than a single dominant holder. Recent-year momentum data shows LG Energy Solution filing the most in the latest tracked year, though at a much lower rate than in prior years. Co-assignee data also shows that some of the largest claim positions are jointly held, most notably a Hyundai and Kia pairing with 124 shared families, so ranking by individual company alone understates how concentrated the field really is.
No, filing volume has passed its peak. Annual filings rose from 125 in 2017 to 477 in 2024, then declined toward 61 in the most recent tracked year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the latest year's figure is understated, but the pattern is reinforced by year-on-year declines of 84% to 100% among the largest individual assignees, which points to a genuine slowdown rather than a reporting artefact.
This dataset does not break out sulfide versus garnet filings as separate counts, but the most-cited prior art skews toward garnet materials, with several of the top five most-cited records specifically claiming garnet compositions for lithium secondary batteries. That citation weight means later garnet-related filings are more likely to face this earlier prior art during examination, while sulfide-specific claims draw on a less concentrated citation base within this corpus.
The IPC composition data shows the clearest gaps in polymer-based and ceramic-processing classes. Vinyl-type addition polymers (C08F) and polymer processing (C08J) each sit under 40 records, and ceramics and refractories (C04B) sit at 109, all well below the near-complete coverage of core battery-cell claims under H01M. A first claim in these areas would most plausibly center on a specific polymer-composite processing step or ceramic sintering method tied to an electrolyte layer, rather than a broad electrolyte composition claim, since the latter is far more densely occupied.
The United States leads with 1,035 filings, followed by the European Patent Office at 638 and China at 601. WIPO PCT filings add 275 more, with South Korea and India trailing at 142 and 130 respectively. Any freedom-to-operate or competitive filing strategy in this space should prioritise the US, Europe and China first, since together they account for the large majority of receiving-office activity in this corpus.
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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.