Silicon Anode for Li-ion Batteries Patent Landscape 2022

How have industry leaders and start-ups positioned their pawns to address the glorious potential of silicon anode-based Li-ion batteries?
Publication April 2022

pdf-icon flyer pdf-icon sample
Download Flyer Download Sample

Report’s Key Features

  • PDF with > 180 slides
  • Excel file + Online database > 12,300 patent families
  • IP trends, including time evolution of published patents and countries of patent filings.
  • Ranking of main patent assignees.
  • Newcomers in the IP landscape.
  • Patent categorization by supply chain segments (anode materials, anode, binder, electrolyte, battery cell, etc.).
  • IP position of key players, and relative strength of their patent portfolios.
  • Current main technological approaches.
  • IP profiles of 17 key players, including IP dynamics, legal status and geographical coverage of patents, IP strategies, key patents and recent IP developments.
  • Excel database with all patents analyzed in the report, including patent segmentation and hyperlinks to an updated online database.

Other KnowMade patent landscapes on batteries. A patent landscape ideally complements a market study. Discover all the advantages of KnowMade’s patent landscape.


The Silicon anode-related patent landscape is very dynamic

Automotive represents a huge new potential market for the battery industry. Electric vehicle (EV) performances mainly rely on batteries, and companies operating in this field are investing a lot to meet their requirements in terms of autonomy, energy density, charge duration, lifetime and safety. R&D developments in the battery field are constantly increasing and multiplying at all supply chain levels. One solution envisioned to improve battery performances is to develop new silicon-based anode to replace graphite. Indeed, silicon anode-based Li-ion batteries show higher electro-chemical performances, and silicon is environmentally friendly and low-cost material. The cumulative funding for silicon anode start-ups reached $1.9B in 2021 (source: IdTechEx), and the global silicon battery market size is estimated to grow from $38M in 2020 to $177M by 2025 at a CAGR of 36.2% (source: MarketsandMarkets)
In this context, Knowmade is releasing a new patent landscape report covering the whole supply chain of silicon anode-based Li-ion batteries, from anode materials, electrodes and binders, to battery cells, electrolytes and equipment. Silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries is a booming industry, and the level of intellectual property (IP) activity is growing fast with numerous newcomers entering the game. Patent landscape analysis is the perfect complement to market research, to fully comprehend the competitive landscape and technology roadmap, keep up with new technology developments, anticipate future technology adoption, and understand the different competitors’ strategies. This kind of patent landscape report reveals the companies, technical solutions and strategies not identified through standard market analysis.

Main patent assignees.

Knowmade’s analysts have selected and analyzed more than 24,700 patents and patent applications grouped in more than 12,300 patent families (inventions) related to the whole supply chain of silicon anode-based Li-ion batteries (electrode materials, electrodes, electrolytes, battery cells). We have identified more than 1,800 different patent assignees involved in the Silicon anode patent landscape. The significant proportion of patents granted worldwide reflects a certain maturity of silicon anode technology for Li-ion batteries which is now being adopted by the industry. Nevertheless, numerous patent applications are still pending, meaning that R&D developments are still ongoing to solve technical issues related to silicon anode batteries

Leading IP players and IP newcomers across the supply chain

The report provides a clear overview of the most active patent applicants as well as a presentation of newcomers to the patent landscape. Furthermore, patent segmentation reveals the IP position of patent assignees by supply chain segments (anode material, electrode, battery cell) and highlights their key patent and recent IP developments for silicon anode materials (morphologies, compositions, manufacturing processes). Special attention has been paid to start-ups and Chinese ecosystem.
The silicon anode patent landscape was dominated by Japanese entities (Hitachi Chemical, Showa Denko, Mitsui, Panasonic/Sanyo, Sony, NEC, Toyota, etc.) and the two major South Korean battery companies (LG Chem, Samsung) until the early 2010s, but the IP activity from Chinese entities has exploded since 2015, representing today 45% of the patents.
The Chinese IP leaders are ATL, Guoxuan High-Tech, CATL, Shanshan Energy, COSMX, SVOLT, New Keli Chemical, EVE Energy and Yinlong Energy. Only a few Europeans (Bosch/Seeo, Nexeon and CEA) and Americans (Global Graphene, General Motors, Enevate and Amprius) have patents on silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries. The three main car manufacturers Toyota, General Motors and Nissan are present in the IP landscape.
We have identified more than 170 IP newcomers entering the patent landscape the last few years, including numerous start-ups: QingTao Energy Development, Sila Nanotechnologies, StoreDot, Wildcat Discovery Technology, Battflex, Coreshell Technologies, 3DBattery, QuantumScape, AnteoTech, Enwires, Blue Current, Graphenix Development, Cenate, SilLion (acquired by Tesla), OneD Materials, Enevate, Amprius, Nexeon, Nanospan, NanoGraf, Group14 Technologies, Qnovo, etc.Main IP players by supply chain segment.

Focus on key players’ patent portfolios

The report provides a detailed analysis of 17 key IP players and most promising IP newcomers: Samsung, LG Chem/LG Energy Solution, Panasonic/Sanyo, Murata/Sony, CATL, SVOLT, Toyota, Hitachi Chemical/Showa Denko, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Mitsubishi Chemical, BTR New Energy Material, Shanshan Energy, Nexeon, Amprius, StoreDot, Global Graphene, Guoxuan High-Tech. For each player, we summarize their IP portfolio, unveil their IP strategies by analyzing their key patents and recent IP developments.

Understand the technological trends

The patents have been categorized by supply chain segment (anode material, anode, binder, electrolyte, battery cell. The report comprises specific parts dedicated to silicon anode materials, silicon anode and battery cell, in which the key IP players, IP newcomers, key patents and recent IP development related to are analyzed. In this report, Knowmade highlights the main silicon-based materials which are envisioned in patents to improve the cyclability and electrochemical performances of silicon anode materials, increase the yields and reduce the cost and environment impact of the material synthesis.

IP leadership of main patent assignees.

Useful Excel patent database

The report also includes an Excel database with the 12,300+ patent families (inventions) analyzed in this study. This useful patent database allows for multi-criteria searches and includes patent publication numbers, hyperlinks to an updated online database (original documents, legal status, etc.), priority dates, title, abstract, patent assignees, patent’s current legal status, and segments (anode material, anode, binder, battery cell, electrolyte, equipment, etc.).

Companies mentioned in the report (Non-exhaustive)

A123 Systems (Wanxiang group), Amprius, ATL (Amperex Technology), BAK Battery, BASF, Bosch/SEEO, BTR New Energy Material, BYD, Canrd New Energy Technology, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd), Chery Automobile, COSMX, Enevate, EVE Energy, Fujifilm, Furukawa, General Motors, Global Graphene, GS Yuasa, Guoxuan High Tech Power Energy, Hitachi , Hitachi Chemical / Showa Denko, Hitachi Maxell, Huawei, Hyundai/Kia, JSR, LG Chem/LG Energy Solution, MGL New Materials, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, MU Ionic Solutions, Murata Manufacturing/Sony, NEC, New Keli Chemical, Nexeon, Nissan, Panasonic/Sanyo, Samsung, Sekisui Chemical, Shanshan Energy technology, Shin Etsu Chemical, SK Innovation, Soundgroup, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Sunwoda, SVOLT (Fengchao Energy Technology), TDK, Tinci Materials Technology, Toshiba, Toyota, Ube Industries, Umicore, Wacker Chemie, Yinlong Energy, Zeon, etc.