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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita et al. (“Kinoshita”, JP 2011044364 A, see machine translation) in view of Park et al. (“Park”, US 20210135187 A1) and Tokoro et al. (“Tokoro”, US 20160156020 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kinoshita teaches a method of manufacturing a secondary battery cathode material (Kinoshita, Title, [0001], e.g., a method for producing a positive electrode material for secondary batteries), comprising:
forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel, cobalt or manganese precursor powder (Kinoshita, [0008], [0010], e.g., mixing a powder of a lithium compound and a powder of a metal compound as raw materials to obtain a mixed powder; lithium compound is Li2O; the metal compound is, for example, MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3, Mn3O4, MnCO3, CoO, CoCO3, Co3CO4, NiO, or Ni(OH)3); and
firing the mixed powder using a rotary kiln (Kinoshita, [0008], [0010], e.g., granulating the mixed powder to obtain a granulated powder; and continuously firing the granulated powder at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to cause a reaction, thereby obtaining a composite oxide of lithium and the metal as the positive electrode material for a secondary battery; a rotary kiln is preferably used in the step of continuously firing the granulated powder at a predetermined temperature).
Kinoshita does not teach preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder; and forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder prepared in the preparing step with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder.
However, combining nickel-containing raw material, cobalt-containing raw material and manganese-containing raw material to form a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor is well-known in the art.
The combination of known elements (combining nickel-containing raw material, cobalt-containing raw material and manganese-containing raw material to form a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor) was obvious to try (see MPEP § 2143, E.).
In the same field of endeavor, Park teaches a method of preparing a positive electrode active material for a secondary battery comprising preparing a precursor including nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and manganese (Mn), and mixing the precursor with a lithium raw material to form a lithium composite transition metal oxide (Park, Title, [0046]); the precursor may be prepared using a transition metal solution including a nickel-containing raw material of nickel-containing oxide, a cobalt-containing raw material of cobalt-containing oxide, and a manganese-containing raw material of manganese-containing oxide (Park, [0050]-[0054]); and the lithium source may be Li2O (Park, [0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder, for the purpose of high energy density and longer life.
Kinoshita in view of Park does not teach preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder; and forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder is the Li2O powder prepared in the preparing step.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tokoro teaches a method for manufacturing a cathode electrode material comprising preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder (Tokoro, Title, [0091], e.g., lithium carbonate (which is a powder) was decomposed and emitted carbon dioxide in order to react with oxides of nickel, cobalt and manganese after thermal decomposition to form a precursor of lithium composite oxide; lithium carbonate as the reaction residue was decomposed into lithium oxide (which is a powder) and carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide was generated; in order to synthesize lithium composite oxide, it is important that carbon dioxide generated in the second and the third heat treatment steps has to be exhausted rapidly, and that sufficient oxygen is kept to promote the oxidizing reaction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the method comprising preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder; and forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder is the Li2O powder prepared in the preparing step, for the purpose of reducing cost (Tokoro. [0051]) and/or excellent in industrial availability and practicality (Tokoro. [0039]).
Regarding claim 2, Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro teaches the method comprising preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder as disclosed in claim 1 above. Kinoshita does not teach wherein: the preparing of the Li2O powder includes: charging the Li2CO3 powder into a firing furnace; and separating the CO2 from the Li2CO3 powder by supplying air or oxygen into the firing furnace.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tokoro teaches a method for manufacturing a cathode electrode material comprising preparing of the Li2O powder includes: charging the Li2CO3 powder into a firing furnace; and separating the CO2 from the Li2CO3 powder by supplying air or oxygen into the firing furnace (Tokoro, Title, [0091], e.g., lithium carbonate (which is a powder) was decomposed and emitted carbon dioxide in order to react with oxides of nickel, cobalt and manganese after thermal decomposition to form a precursor of lithium composite oxide; further, the thus obtained powder (second precursor) was heat treated by a continuous conveying furnace having the atmosphere whose oxygen concentration in the furnace was adjusted to be 90% or more by replacement and in the flow of oxygen at the heat treatment temperature of 800° C. for 10 hours, so that calcination powder (lithium composite component) was obtained (third heat treatment step); in the third heat treatment step, oxidization of nickel causes a reaction in the formula (2) to proceed, so that lithium carbonate as the reaction residue was decomposed into lithium oxide (which is a powder) and carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide was generated; in order to synthesize lithium composite oxide, it is important that carbon dioxide generated in the second and the third heat treatment steps has to be exhausted rapidly, and that sufficient oxygen is kept to promote the oxidizing reaction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wherein: the preparing of the Li2O powder includes: charging the Li2CO3 powder into a firing furnace; and separating the CO2 from the Li2CO3 powder by supplying air or oxygen into the firing furnace, for the purpose of reducing cost (Tokoro. [0051]) and/or excellent in industrial availability and practicality (Tokoro. [0039]).
Regarding claim 3, Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro teaches the method comprising the forming of the mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder as disclosed in claim 1 above. Kinoshita teaches forming the mixed power in a form of granules (Kinoshita, [0008], e.g., mixing a powder of a lithium compound and a powder of a metal compound as raw materials to obtain a mixed powder; granulating the mixed powder to obtain a granulated powder). Kinoshita also teaches Li2O powder as a starting material for forming the mixed powder (Kinoshita, [0008], [0010], e.g., mixing a powder of a lithium compound and a powder of a metal compound as raw materials to obtain a mixed powder; the lithium compound is Li2O).
Kinoshita does not teach pulverizing the Li2O powder.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tokoro teaches a method for manufacturing a cathode electrode material (Tokoro, Title) comprising, in a mixture step, starting materials are preferably pulverized by a pulverizer, for example, before mixing; this allows a solid mixture powder in which the materials can be mixed uniformly to be prepared (Tokoro, [0041]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wherein: the forming of the mixed powder includes: pulverizing the Li2O powder, for the purpose of allowing a solid mixture powder in which the materials can be mixed uniformly to be prepared (Tokoro, [0041]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita et al. (“Kinoshita”, JP 2011044364 A, see machine translation) in view of Park et al. (“Park”, US 20210135187 A1) and Tokoro et al. (“Tokoro”, US 20160156020 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Jung et al. (“Jung”, US 20210028445 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro teaches the method comprising the forming of the mixed powder as disclosed in claim 1 above. Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro does not teach wherein: the forming of the mixed powder may be performed in a closed space in a nitrogen atmosphere.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Jung teaches a method of preparing a positive electrode active material that includes introducing a reaction mixture including a lithium source material and a nickel-manganese-cobalt precursor into a continuous firing furnace and subjecting the same to primary heat treatment, thereby preparing a fired mixture; subjecting the fired mixture to pulverization or size classification; and introducing the fired mixture having been pulverized or size-classified into a rotary kiln and subjecting the same to secondary heat treatment, thereby forming a lithium nickel manganese cobalt-based positive electrode active material (Jung, Abstract). The secondary heat treatment may be performed under a nitrogen atmosphere (which is being interpreted as a closed space) or a vacuum atmosphere; accordingly, a positive electrode active material having excellent physical properties and excellent electrochemical properties can be prepared (Jung, [0066]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wherein: the forming of the mixed powder may be performed in a closed space in a nitrogen atmosphere, for the purpose of providing a positive electrode active material having excellent physical properties and excellent electrochemical properties can be prepared (Jung, [0066])
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita et al. (“Kinoshita”, JP 2011044364 A, see machine translation) in view of Park et al. (“Park”, US 20210135187 A1) and Tokoro et al. (“Tokoro”, US 20160156020 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kwang et al. (“Kwang”, KR 101797147 B1, disclosed in IDS (with translated Abstract)).
Regarding claim 5, Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro teaches the method comprising the firing of the mixed powder using the rotary kiln as disclosed in claim 1 above. Kinoshita teaches charging the mixed powder into an inside of the rotary kiln; and firing the mixed powder inside the rotary kiln (Kinoshita, Fig. 1, [0008], [0019], [0020], e.g., mixing a powder of a lithium compound and a powder of a metal compound as raw materials to obtain a mixed powder; granulating the mixed powder to obtain a granulated powder; and continuously firing the granulated powder at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to cause a reaction, thereby obtaining a composite oxide of lithium and the metal as the positive electrode material for a secondary battery; the rotary kiln 10 shown in Figure 1 has a ceramic cylindrical portion 12 in which firing takes place within its interior 12a, a heating element 14 that is provided to cover the outer surface 12b of the cylindrical portion 12; The cylindrical portion 12 is heated by a heating element 14 to a predetermined temperature, for example, 800° C., and the granulated powder 16 to be fired is supplied to the interior 12 a of the cylindrical portion 12).
Kinoshita in view of Park and Tokoro does not teach a refractory coating layer is formed on an inner surface of the rotary kiln and a spiral baffle is installed in the rotary kiln.
However, in the field of rotary kiln, Kwang teaches a rotary kiln comprising a refractory coating layer is formed on an inner surface of the rotary kiln and a spiral baffle is installed in the rotary kiln (Kwang, Abstract, Fig. 6, e.g., a cylindrical thermal treatment furnace having a first screw and a second screw in the opposite directions to each other in the thermal treatment unit, and a third screw which converts a direction of raw materials on the end unit side (first screw, second screw and third screw (124, 125 and 126, see Fig. 6) are being interpreted as spiral baffles); a heating apparatus (180, see Fig. 6) which includes: a heating furnace (181, see Fig. 6) installed to wrap around a circumference of the cylindrical thermal treatment furnace; refractories (182, see Fig. 6) (which is being interpreted as refractory coating layer) placed on an internal surface of the heating furnace).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a refractory coating layer is formed on an inner surface of the rotary kiln and a spiral baffle is installed in the rotary kiln, for the purpose of providing a rotary kiln which is able to easily perform the thermal treatment or burning of raw materials for a long time at high temperatures and/or continuously and automatically producing a solid product in a stable manner (Kwang, Abstract).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/19/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that “in Tokoro, lithium carbonate is decomposed into lithium oxide and carbon dioxide, not before the mixture step S1, but during the calcination step S2 - specifically, in the third heat treatment step S23 - which occurs after the mixture step S1. In Tokoro's method, lithium carbonate is first mixed with oxides of nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and then the mixture is subjected to heat treatment. The decomposition of lithium carbonate and the emission of carbon dioxide occur 'in-situ' while reacting with the precursor to form the lithium composite oxide. In stark contrast, amended Claim 1 requires an 'ex-situ' preparation of Li2O. The Li2O powder must be prepared 'prior to' any mixing with the NCM precursor powder. Tokoro does not teach or suggest preparing pure Li2O powder in advance and subsequently mixing it with the precursor. Furthermore, there is no motivation for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Tokoro's 'in-situ' reaction into the 'ex-situ' sequential process of Claim 1. In conventional manufacturing of high-nickel NCM cathode materials, generating a large amount of CO2 during the main firing step (as in Tokoro) lowers the oxygen partial pressure, which hinders the necessary oxidation of nickel. The present invention elegantly solves this problem by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 'before' mixing it with the NCM precursor, thereby preventing the massive generation of CO2 during the main firing step in the rotary kiln. The cited references, individually or in combination, fail to recognize this problem or suggest the claimed solution. As the cited combination fails to teach or suggest ‘mixing the Li2O powder prepared in the preparing step with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder,’ Claim 1 is patentably distinguishable over the cited references.” (Remarks, Pages 5-6).
Applicant’s argument is not persuasive.
Kinoshita teaches forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel, cobalt or manganese precursor powder (Kinoshita, [0008], [0010], e.g., mixing a powder of a lithium compound and a powder of a metal compound as raw materials to obtain a mixed powder; lithium compound is Li2O; the metal compound is, for example, MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3, Mn3O4, MnCO3, CoO, CoCO3, Co3CO4, NiO, or Ni(OH)3); and
firing the mixed powder using a rotary kiln (Kinoshita, [0008], [0010], e.g., granulating the mixed powder to obtain a granulated powder; and continuously firing the granulated powder at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to cause a reaction, thereby obtaining a composite oxide of lithium and the metal as the positive electrode material for a secondary battery; a rotary kiln is preferably used in the step of continuously firing the granulated powder at a predetermined temperature).
Combining nickel-containing raw material, cobalt-containing raw material and manganese-containing raw material to form a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor is well-known in the art.
The combination of known elements (combining nickel-containing raw material, cobalt-containing raw material and manganese-containing raw material to form a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor) was obvious to try (see MPEP § 2143, E.).
Park teaches a method of preparing a positive electrode active material for a secondary battery comprising preparing a precursor including nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and manganese (Mn), and mixing the precursor with a lithium raw material to form a lithium composite transition metal oxide (Park, Title, [0046]); the precursor may be prepared using a transition metal solution including a nickel-containing raw material of nickel-containing oxide, a cobalt-containing raw material of cobalt-containing oxide, and a manganese-containing raw material of manganese-containing oxide (Park, [0050]-[0054]); and the lithium source may be Li2O (Park, [0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder, for the purpose of high energy density and longer life.
Tokoro teaches a method for manufacturing a cathode electrode material comprising preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder (Tokoro, Title, [0091], e.g., lithium carbonate (which is a powder) was decomposed and emitted carbon dioxide in order to react with oxides of nickel, cobalt and manganese after thermal decomposition to form a precursor of lithium composite oxide; lithium carbonate as the reaction residue was decomposed into lithium oxide (which is a powder) and carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide was generated; in order to synthesize lithium composite oxide, it is important that carbon dioxide generated in the second and the third heat treatment steps has to be exhausted rapidly, and that sufficient oxygen is kept to promote the oxidizing reaction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the method comprising preparing Li2O powder by separating CO2 from Li2CO3 powder; and forming a mixed powder by mixing the Li2O powder with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) precursor powder is the Li2O powder prepared in the preparing step, for the purpose of reducing cost (Tokoro. [0051]) and/or excellent in industrial availability and practicality (Tokoro. [0039]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAIXIA ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5697. The examiner can normally be reached Monday and Tuesday 9-5.
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/HAIXIA ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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