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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/09/2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/20/2025 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 11, 14-15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US20140106218A1) in further view of Bonhomme (US20180198114A1).
As to claims 1 and 17, Lee teaches a method of producing a polymer for use in an electrode within a lithium secondary battery (energy storage device) (par. [0008]). Lee discloses a negative active material composition is prepared by mixing a negative active material, a conductive agent, a binder, and a solvent (par. [0230]). The negative active material composition is coated on a current collector and/or substrate, then heat treated at a temperature of about 80 to about 120° C and dried to remove the solvent (par. [0234]). The negative active material composition may additionally include (in addition to the negative active material) other carbonaceous negative active materials (nanocarbon material) (par. [0237]). For example, the carbonaceous negative active material may be crystalline carbon, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof (par. [0237]). The crystalline carbon may be natural or artificial graphite that is tabular, flake, spherical, or fibrous in shape (par. [0237]).
Lee fails to disclose wherein a nanocarbon graphite ratio varies from 1:9 to 9:1.
Bonhomme teaches a method of reducing short circuits from occurring in a battery can include providing a current collector coated with a safety layer (par. [0018]). During the fabrication of the silicon based anode (par. [0012]), Bonhomme discloses in Example 4, a 1:7.5 (4:30) ratio of carbon nanofibers: graphite particles (par. [0090])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the ratio of Bonhomme’s anode mixture to Lee’s carbonaceous negative active materials to provide a higher capacity and etc. (par. [0065]).
As to claim 11, modified Lee discloses the method as in claim 1, wherein the active material comprises at least one of lithium cobalt oxide (par. [0242], [0245]).
As to claim 14, modified Lee discloses the method as in claim 1, wherein the dispersant comprises polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Lee teaches that as a binder of a lithium secondary battery, the polymer may be used alone, or it may be used together with an additional binder to improve elasticity, the dispersibility of the active material, and the binding force of the active material to the current collector (par. [0209]). The additional/second binder may be polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as taught by Lee (par. [0210]).
As to claim 15, modified Lee discloses the use of a secondary/additional binder to increase the dispersibility of the active material (dispersant) (par. [0209]). Lee teaches that nonlimiting examples of the additional binder includes aqueous dispersions of butadiene rubber, polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF), etc. (aqueous binder) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) (par. [0210]).
Claim(s) 3-10, 12-13, 16 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US20140106218A1) in view of Bonhomme (US20180198114A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Brambilla (WO2021007183A1).
As to claims 3-4, modified Lee discloses that the negative active material composition may additionally include (in addition to the negative active material) other carbonaceous (nanocarbon material) negative active materials (par. [0237]). Lee fails to disclose wherein the carbonaceous (nanocarbon material) negative active materials comprises high aspect ratio carbon elements. The carbonaceous negative active material may be crystalline carbon, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof. The crystalline carbon may be natural or artificial graphite that is tabular, flake, spherical, or fibrous in shape. The amorphous carbon may be soft carbon (e.g., cold calcined carbon) or hard carbon, meso-phase pitch carbide, calcined cork, graphene, carbon black, fullerene soot, carbon nanotubes, or carbon fibers. However, the crystalline carbon and the amorphous carbon are not limited to the above, and may be any one of various materials conventionally used in the art (par. [0237]).
Brambilla teaches an electrode active layer is disclosed that includes a network of high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 (nanocarbons) (e.g., carbon nanotubes, carbon nanotube bundles, graphene flakes, or the like) that provides a highly electrically conductive scaffold that entangles or enmeshes the active material, thereby supporting the layer (pg. 2, lines 5-10). The high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 may include flake or plate shaped elements having two major dimensions and one minor dimension. For example, in some such embodiments, the ratio of the length of each of the major dimensions may be at least 5 times, 10 times, 100 times, 500 times, 1,000 times, 5,000 times, 10,000 times or more of that of the minor dimension. Exemplary elements of this type include graphene sheets or flakes (pg. 4, lines 15-25).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the high aspect ratio carbon of Brambilla's invention to Lee's active material layer in order to provide a highly electrically conductive scaffold (pg. 2, lines 5-16).
As to claims 5-6, modified Lee discloses a carbonaceous negative active material that is subjected to a heat treatment (par. [0234]). Lee fails to disclose carbonaceous negative active material further comprising a surface treatment.
Brambilla teaches a surface treatment applied to the electrode active materials’ high aspect ratio carbon elements (nanocarbons) (pg. 2, lined 5-16). Brambilla discloses an electrode active layer comprising nanocarbon that includes a surface treatment (pg. 2, lines 17-21) in order to promote adhesion to the active material and any underlying electrode layers (pg. 2, lines 10-11). Brambilla also discloses functional groups applied to the elements may be selected to promote adhesion between the active material particles and the network (high aspect ratio carbon elements) (pg. 4, lines 9-13; pg. 10, lines 9-15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the surface treatment of Brambilla's invention to Lee's active material layer in order to promote adhesion between the active material and the network (high aspect ratio carbon elements) (pg. 2, lines 10-11).
As to claim 7, modified Lee discloses a carbonaceous negative active material that is subjected to a surface treatment as taught by Brambilla previously. Lee fails to disclose the surface treatment comprising at least one of a functional group including at least one of a carboxylic group, a hydroxylic group, an amine group, and a silane group.
Brambilla further teaches that functional groups applied to the high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 may be selected to promote adhesion between the active material particles 300 and the carbon element network 200. For example, in various embodiments the functional groups may include carboxylic groups, hydroxylic groups, amine groups, silane groups, or combinations thereof.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the functional group composition of Brambilla's invention to Lee's surface treatment to promote adhesion of the active material to the network (pg. 10, lines 20-24).
As to claims 8-10, modified Lee discloses a carbonaceous negative active material that is subjected to a surface treatment as taught by Brambilla previously. Lee fails to disclose wherein the surface treatment is formed from at least one of a polymeric layer disposed on the nanocarbon and a lyophilized aqueous dispersion comprising the nanocarbon and functionalizing material.
Brambilla further discloses the surface treatment on the high aspect ratio carbon elements includes a thin polymeric layer disposed on the carbon elements (pg. 10, lines 20-24) and; functionalized carbon elements are formed from dried (e.g., lyophilized) aqueous dispersion comprising nanoform carbon and functionalizing material such as a surfactant (pg. 10, lines 16-19). These additions were enacted to promote adhesion of the active material to the network (pg. 10, lines 14-24). The surface treatment may be formed from a layer of carbonaceous material which results from the pyrolization of polymeric material disposed on the high aspect ratio carbon elements (pg. 11, lines 29-31). The pyrolization of the polymeric layer promotes adhesion with the active material particles (pg. 12, lines 1-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the surfactant based functionalizing material and/or the pyrolized form of the polymeric layer to the surface treatment of Lee’s invention to promote adhesion of the active material to the network (pg. 10, lines 14-24).
As to claim 12, modified Lee discloses a component of the carbonaceous negative active material (SiOx) comprising a 10µm particle diameter (par. [0344]). Lee fails to disclose a median particle size in the range of 0.1 micrometers to 50 micrometers.
Brambilla discloses that active material particles within the active layer may be characterized by a median particle sized in the range of e.g., 0.1 µm and 50 µm, or any subrange thereof (pg. 13, lines 4-9) to promote adhesion (pg. 4, lines 9-13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the particle size range of Brambilla's invention to Lee's active material particles in order to promote adhesion (pg. 4, lines 9-13).
As to claim 13, modified Lee discloses a component of the carbonaceous negative active material (SiOx) comprising a 10µm particle diameter (par. [0344]). Lee fails to disclose the mass loading of the negative active material.
Brambilla teaches an active layer may having mass loading of active material particles (pg. 13, lines 10-12). Brambilla discloses a mass loading of at least 20 mg/cm2, 30 mg/cm2, 40 mg/cm2, 50 mg/cm2, 60 mg/cm2, 70 mg/cm2, 80 mg/cm2, 90 mg/cm2, 100 mg/cm2 or more (pg. 13, lines 10-12) to decrease the electrical conductivity of the electrode (pg. 1, lines 28-31).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the mass loading of Brambilla's invention to Lee's active material in order to decrease the electrical conductivity of the electrode (pg. 1, lines 28-31).
As to claim 16, modified Lee discloses teaches a dried negative active material slurry (par. [0344]). Lee fails to disclose whether the coating of slurry is sintered.
Brambilla teaches an active layer 100 which includes a three-dimensional network 200 of high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 defining void spaces within a network 200. Within the fabrication steps of the electrode, an initial slurry is formed which includes high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 and a surface treatment material (e.g., a surfactant or polymer material as described herein) are combined with a solvent (pg. 15, lines 1-5). Next, active material particles 300 are added to the initial slurry to form the final slurry (pg. 16, lines 1-5). An active layer 100 is formed from the final slurry and may be compressed (e.g., using a calendaring apparatus) before or after being applied to the electrode 10. In some embodiments, the slurry may be partially or completely dried (e.g., by applying heat, vacuum or a combination thereof) prior to or during the compression process (pg. 17, lines 20-25). In the instance where the active layer 100 is dried by heating whilst being compressed, the method is considered as sintering the coating of slurry.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the sintering fabrication step of Brambilla’s invention to Lee’s active material to increase one or more of adhesion between the layers (pg. 18, lines 1-10).
As to claim 18, modified Lee discloses teaches an active material layer composition (par. [0344]) and energy storage materials comprising high aspect ratio carbon elements as taught by Brambilla. Lee fails to disclose the formation of the active layer, and the polymer layer leaving a majority of space available in the active layer to hold active material particles.
Brambilla teaches an electrode active layer is disclosed that includes a network of high aspect ratio carbon elements 201 (nanocarbons) (e.g., carbon nanotubes, carbon nanotube bundles, graphene flakes, or the like) that provides a highly electrically conductive scaffold that entangles or enmeshes the active material, thereby supporting the layer (pg. 2, lines 5-10). Brambilla discloses in some embodiments the electrode active layer is free of or substantially free of polymeric material, or any material other than the active material (pg. 5, lines 8-10); and a surface treatment can be applied to the high aspect ratio carbon elements to promote adhesion (pg. 2, lines 9-15); and the thin polymeric layer resides on the surface of the high aspect ratio carbon elements, leaving the vast majority of the void space withing the network available to hold active material particles (pg. 11, lines 19-22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the active layer and spacing of the polymer layer of Brambilla's invention to Lee's electrode in order to hold active material particles (pg. 11, lines 19-22).
As to claim 19, modified Lee discloses a carbonaceous negative active material that is subjected to a surface treatment as taught by Brambilla previously. Lee fails to disclose wherein the polymeric layer disposed on an active material layer.
Brambilla further discloses that in some embodiments, the thin polymeric layer bonds to the active material, e.g., via hydrogen bonding (pg. 10, lines 20-24) to promote adhesion with the active material particles (pg. 12, lines 1-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to add the bond of layers presented in Brambilla's invention to Lee's polymeric layer in order to promote adhesion with the active material particles (pg. 12, lines 1-4).
Conclusion
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JADE SIMMONS
Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/J.S.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1727
/Maria Laios/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727