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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/5/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed 11/5/2025 have been entered. Claim 1 is amended.
Support for the amendments can be found on page 6 of the instant specification.
Claims 1, 4-7, 9-12, and 14-18 are pending, of which Claims 10-12 and 14-16 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim(s) 1 have been considered but are unpersuasive. Takeshi teaches that the mesh current collector can have an opening ratio, which can be viewed as the area of the current collector occupied by the holes, of 0.2 to 96%, and the holes can have sizes between 0.1 to 5.0 mm (100 to 5000 µm) (0027, Fig. 3).
Applicant's arguments filed 11/5/2025 regarding the unexpected results of a perforated current collector on weight and energy density have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the same reasons detailed in office action dated 8/7/2025.
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, 4-7, 9, and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi (JP 2012169200, cited in the 7/8/2024 IDS, machine translation previously provided) in view of Choudhury (US 20170365851 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Takeshi teaches an electrode comprising a first electrode active material layer (1a), a second electrode active material layer (1a), and a perforated current collector interposed between the first and second electrode active material layers (0024; Fig. 1). The first and second active materials (1a) are press molded to sandwich the current collector (1b) in between. This would mean that the first and second active materials would be combined through the perforations of the current collector (Fig. 4). Takeshi does not teach that the electrode contains an electrically conductive additive and a binder. The perforated current collector can have an opening ratio, which can be viewed as the area of the current collector occupied by the holes, of 0.2 to 96%, and the holes can have sizes between 0.1 to 5.0 mm (100 to 5000 µm) (0027, Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have routinely selected the overlapping portions of the disclosed opening ratio and hole size ranges as the selection of overlapping portions of ranges has been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness (see MPEP 2144.05).
Takeshi teaches that the electrode is used in a nonaqueous electrolyte battery (0026) and that the positive electrode can comprise lithium transition metal oxides such as LiCOO2 and LiMnO2 (0029) but does not teach that the first and second active material layers each comprise sulfur (S).
Choudhury teaches that lithium-ion batteries comprising LiMnO-2 and LiCoO2 have good cycling and high Coulombic efficiency but insufficient energy density while Li-S batteries have higher energy density (0002). The cathode material for a Li-S cell can be a sulfur-carbon composite in powder (0076).
Takeshi and Choudhury are considered analogous to the claimed invention as they relate to the same field of endeavor, namely lithium battery electrodes.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the electrode active material of Takeshi to be the sulfur-carbon composite taught by Choudhury in order to provide higher energy density.
Regarding Claim 4, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 1. The first and second active material layers each comprise a sulfur-carbon composite (Choudhury: 0076).
Regarding Claim 5, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 1. The electrode is made from a powder (Takeshi: 0015; Chaudhury: 0076) and Takeshi does not teach that the electrode contains moisture (Takeshi does not teach that any solvent is used in the formation of the electrode).
Regarding Claim 6, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 1. Takeshi teaches that the current collector is a mesh (Abstract), which can be considered a perforated foil, film, or sheet (0027). The current collector is made of a magnetic material that can be metal (0019).
Regarding Claim 7, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 6. The metal can be stainless steel, iron, or nickel (Takeshi: 0019).
Regarding Claim 9, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 1. The electrode can be a positive electrode, the first electrode active material layer can be a first positive electrode active material layer, and the second electrode active material layer can be a second positive electrode active material layer (0024, Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 17, modified Takeshi teaches the electrode of Claim 1 and that it is used in a nonaqueous electrolyte battery (lithium secondary battery) (Takeshi: Abstract).
Regarding Claim 18, modified Takeshi teaches the battery of Claim 17. The battery is a lithium-sulfur battery (Choudhury: 0002, 0076).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Isshiki (US 20140023922 A1) teaches a current collector with holes, such as a mesh current collector (0128). The holes most preferably occupy an 40% to 60% of the area of the current collector (0129 - area of through-hole per unit area). Within this range, the current collector may have sufficient strength (0131) while maintaining production efficiency (0132) and manufacturing consistency (0130-0132).
Woo (US 20180019477 A1) teaches an electrode with a perforated current collector (Title). The current collector can be a metal mesh and have a hole size between 500 and 1000 µm (0071, Fig. 5 – a and b).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIHENG LU whose telephone number is (703)756-1077. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30 - 5 ET.
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/ZIHENG LU/Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/Maria Laios/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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