In this article, Ben Lincoln of Potter Clarkson spotlights 2025 patent applications that cleared the search stage with a clean search report, marking them as unusually novel patents in today’s saturated battery landscape.
In the lifecycle of a patent application, the search stage plays a pivotal role in determining whether an invention truly advances the state-of-the-art. Once an application is filed, the patent office conducts a prior‑art search to evaluate both the novelty and the inventive step of the claimed subject matter. This search covers earlier patent filings, scientific literature, technical standards and other publicly available documents that might disclose similar technologies or features.
The search report identifies the relevance of each document found. A document cited in the ‘X’ category means that the examiner believes the document is highly relevant to patentability. A document cited in the ‘Y’ category means that it discloses features that, in combination with those of another cited document, could render the claimed invention obvious. A document cited in category ‘A’ is considered relevant to the general state-of-the-art, but not relevant to the novelty or inventive step of the claimed invention. Accordingly, a search report with only category ‘A’ documents or no citations at all indicates that the invention is novel and inventive. This does not happen often in technical fields such as battery tech, that are crowded with prior art
However, in this article we look at what patents were published in 2025 with a clean search report indicating that the devices, method or materials described are truly a step ahead.
Novel patents
WO2025257367, to Plastic Omnium Clean Energy Systems Research, discloses a two‑level battery architecture featuring separate upper and lower module compartments, each with its own dedicated cooling circuit. The inventive concept is on a modular, thermally stratified battery pack design with independent cooling zones connected via an external coolant link. Advantages include improved thermal uniformity across vertically stacked modules, easier integration with vehicle cooling loops and increased design flexibility in pack layout and assembly.
WO2025/259000 A1 to LG Energy Solution relates to a current collector plate.
The current collector plate design includes a special fuse element that connects different parts of a battery, ensuring safety by breaking the circuit if there’s an overload. This allows for a quick response to electrical issues while minimising any negative impact on the battery’s performance. By adding the function of the fuse to the plate-shaped current collector plate intersecting the axial direction, it is possible to increase the safety of the battery cell while minimising the internal volume of the battery cell occupied by the fuse element.
WO2025/258820 A1 to Samsung SDI relates to a negative electrode for an all-solid-state battery. The invention introduces a new type of negative electrode for all-solid-state batteries, which features a unique inorganic material, enhancing the battery’s performance and longevity. By using a lithium metal oxyhalide in the coating, the invention aims to improve the energy storage capacity and stability. The claims mention a lithium metal oxyhalide with the formula: LiaAlbMcOdCle wherein ‘a’ less than or equal to 3; ‘b’ is less than or equal to 3; ‘c’ is less than; ‘d’ is less than or equal to 4; ‘e’ is less than or equal to 4; ‘d’ is less than ‘e’; and M is a metal of choice from group 3 to group 15.
WO2025/258664 A1 to Panasonic Intellectual Property Management discloses a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery which comprises: a long positive electrode; a long negative electrode; a long separator disposed between the long positive electrode and the long negative electrode; and a non-aqueous electrolyte. In the non-aqueous electrolyte, the long positive electrode, the long negative electrode, and the long separator are wound in the length direction to form a wound body, the central portion of the wound body has a separator wound portion formed by winding the long separator 15-40 times, and the thickness of the long separator is 0.01-0.03mm.
It is explained that if a non-hydrolyte secondary battery is equipped with a winding body formed by a long positive electrode, a long negative electrode, and a long separator wound in the longitudinal direction, that is, a winding electrode body, such a winding electrode body generates a force due to the expansion of the negative electrode active material in each circle, and the force caused by the expansion of each circle propagates towards the centre. As a result, large internal stresses are generated at the positive and negative electrodes near the centre of the winding electrode body, and at least one of the positive and negative electrodes near the centre of the winding electrode body may bend due to this large internal stress. In other words, at least one of the positive and negative electrodes near the centre of the winding electrode body may be deformed which may promote an uneven chemical reaction between the positive and negative electrodes, which can reduce the charge-discharge cycle performance.
The configuration of the invention is advantageous because in non-aqueous electrolyte rechargeable batteries, porous sheets with relatively high cushioning, such as microporous films, woven fabrics, and non-woven fabrics, are usually used as separators. Therefore, as mentioned above, the separator winding part with a given thickness can show relatively high cushioning. When the force caused by the expansion generated by each circle propagates towards the central part of the winding electrode body, the separator winding part formed in the central part can fully absorb this propagated force.
All of these patent applications are early in their examination by the searching authorities of the World Intellectual Property Office. However, the absence of any significant prior art objections indicates that they will be granted quickly.
While technological progress in fields like battery engineering is usually incremental, each development building on what has come before, these applications demonstrate that there is still innovation in a crowded technical area that challenges the prevailing designs and assumptions.
However, although these filings have emerged from the search process with a stamp of true novelty, this is no guarantee of commercial success or market adoption. True value will ultimately depend not only on patentability, but on manufacturability, cost, performance in real‑world systems, and the strategic direction of the companies that commercialise these innovations.
