Global patent analysis of electrode active materials for power lithium-ion batteries

1. Application status

Through the analysis of global data, the global trend of patent applications for power lithium-ion battery electrode active materials is drawn, as shown in Figure 1. The global related patent application roughly presents four stages.

(1) Slow development period (before 1998)

During this period, there were only sporadic patent applications every year in the world, and the number of patent applicants was also very small.

(2) Stable development period (1998~2005)

With the development of power tools and electric vehicles, the demand for power batteries has increased, and the market has promoted the development of technology. It can be seen from the figure that the number of patent applications and patent applicants have increased significantly, indicating that patent applications The intensity is stronger than that of the slow development period.

(3) Rapid development period (2005~2011)

During this period, both the number of global patent applications and the number of patent applicants showed rapid growth. The number of patent applications in 2011 was nearly four times that of 2005, and the number of patent applicants doubled. It shows that under the dual promotion of the new energy policy and the increase in market demand, the patent application force of patent applicants is very strong. After 2011, the decline in the number of patent applications was caused by the time difference between the time of patent application and the time of patent disclosure, which does not explain the decline of the application trend.

2. Application status of the country of origin

Through the analysis of global patent data, it is found that the main sources of patent applications for power-type lithium-ion battery electrode active materials are Japan, South Korea and the United States, and the number of patent applications filed by applicants from these three countries accounts for 90% of the world. China and Canada are the main source countries of applications. Among them, Japanese applicants have the largest number of applications, accounting for nearly 70%, which is far ahead; followed by South Korea and the United States in the second echelon; and again China and Canada.

The application trend of the main source countries of global applications is shown in Figure 2. From the figure, it can be further known that the application situation of Japan and South Korea is similar to the overall application situation in the world, showing a slow development and then a rapid increase. The United States, China and Canada are different from the previous two countries, showing slow development, rapid increase, and obvious fluctuations of decline.

3. Principal applicant

Statistical analysis of the main applicants for global patent applications shows the patent application trend of the main applicants as shown in Figure 3. The analysis shows that the main applicants are basically Japanese and Korean companies, and Japanese companies have the majority of patent applications. The number of patent applications filed by the main applicant increased rapidly after 2005, especially around 2010. In addition, the patent application process of the leading companies in patent applications continued to increase, but the decline in the number of applications in 2008 indicates that the Asian financial crisis had a certain impact on the technology research and development of patent applicants, but the number of patent applications resumed growth after 2008 .

The patent layout of the main patent applicants is shown in Figure 4. It can be seen from the figure that Japanese companies are actively conducting patent layouts in Japan, and at the same time, they are conducting international patent layouts through the way of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Korean companies also attach importance to their domestic and global layout. From the perspective of layout, Japan is an important market for patent layout in various countries, and the market competition is fierce.

Regarding the activity of global patent applicants, patent applications show a concentrated trend, and patent applications are concentrated in applicants with strong technology research and development capabilities. Applicants with more than 100 patents accounted for 60% of the total, while applicants with less than 2 patent applications accounted for only 10% of the total.

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