Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
SODIUM-ION BATTERIES
Examiner: Adam Arciero S.N. 17/413,046 Art Unit: 1727 September 14, 2026
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's After-Final response filed on June 11, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3-4 and 9-16 are currently pending. The finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn and a new Non-Final rejection is made below.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Applicant did not provide specific support for the subject matter of claim 15, which was newly submitted in the reply filed March 25, 2025. In addition, the original disclosure only provides direct support for the solvents: tetraglyme, EC, DEC and PC (Fig. 2). Therefore the claims contain new matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 9-10, 12-13 and 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamamoto (JP 2017-045600 A; as found in IDS dated 09/26/2023 and using machine translation for citation purposes).
As to Claims 1, 3-4, 9-10, 12-13 and 15-16, Yamamoto discloses a sodium-ion battery that can comprise at least two cells (and method of making/cycling), comprising: a positive active material comprising Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2; a positive electrode comprising 9.2 parts by weight of the active material, 0.4 parts by weight of a conductive agent, and 0.4 parts by weight of a binder on an aluminum current collector, so that the basis weight is 20.6 mg/cm2; a negative electrode comprising: a hard carbon active material in an amount of 9.3 parts by weight, 0.1 parts by weight of a conductive agent, and 0.6 parts by weight of a binder applied to a copper current collector so as to have a basis weight of 8 mg/cm2; and an electrolyte containing NaPF6 and ethylene carbonate(paragraphs [0013, 0091, 0099, 0136-0138, 0143-0145 and embodiment 1). Therefore, the mass 0f the positive active material per unit square meter of the electrode is 189.52 g/m2 and the mass of the negative active material per unit square meter of the electrode is 74.4 g/m2, and the mass ratio of the positive active material and the negative active material is 2.54. Furthermore, because the negative electrode is compression-molded by a roller press to have a density of 0.9-1.1 g/cm3, the thickness thereof is intrinsically 80 microns (paragraph [0147]). Yamamoto further discloses wherein tin and germanium and carbon materials such as amorphous carbon and hard carbon can be used alone or in combination as the negative active material (paragraph [0070]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The claim rejections under 35 USC 103(a) as being unpatentable over Treacher and Chatillon on claims 1, 3-4, 7-8, 12-13 and 15-16 are withdrawn because Applicant’s arguments are persuasive.
The claim rejections under 35 USC 103(a) as being unpatentable over Treacher, Chatillon and Lu on claims 9-10 are withdrawn because Applicant’s arguments are persuasive.
The claim rejections under 35 USC 103(a) as being unpatentable over Treacher, Chatillon and Numata on claims 11 and 14 are withdrawn because Applicant’s arguments are persuasive.
Claim(s) 11 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto (JP 2017-045600 A; as found in IDS dated 09/26/2023 and using machine translation for citation purposes) in view of Numata et al. (JP 2014-032755 A; as found in IDS dated 09/26/2023 and using machine translation for citation purposes).
As to Claims 11 and 14, Yamamoto does not specifically disclose the claimed VSSA.
However, Numata teaches of a sodium-ion battery comprising a hard carbon anode material with a specific surface area of 6 m2/g (paragraphs [0046 and 0082]). Numata further recognizes the specific surface area as a result-effective variable to be optimized for suppression of side reactions with the electrolyte and ensuring acceptability of the sodium ion (paragraph [0050]). At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the anode of modified Yamamoto to have a specific surface area of 6 m2/g because Numata teaches that side reactions with the electrolyte are suppressed and ensuring acceptability of the sodium ion (paragraph [0050]). In addition, there are a known finite number of options for the disposal of the negative active material layer (uniform and non-uniform) and therefore one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to try the known options with a reasonable expectation of success, see KSR, MPEP 2143, I, E.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed June 11, 2026, with respect to claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of the claims have been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM ARCIERO whose telephone number is (571)270-5116. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-5 ET.
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/ADAM A ARCIERO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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