DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-2, 5 & 10-13 have been amended. Claims 1-18 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-11 & 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun (US 2022/0328821 A1) in view of Lee (US 2018/0013129 A1) and Wei (CN 105810934 A).
Regarding claims 1-11 & 13-18, Sun teaches a lithium-ion battery comprising a positive electrode active material prepared by: (i) in a molar ratio of 1.01:1, mixing a lithium source such as a lithium hydroxide and a prepared precursor with a D50 ranging from 5 microns to 15 microns, having the claimed nominal composition, and including primary particles presenting a poor nickel to rich nickel gradient from the outside to the inside and radiating from the inside to the outside; (ii) raising from room temperature to 450°C at 2°C/min and maintaining it, sintering for 5 hours; (iii) raising to 750°C and maintaining it, and then sintering for 10 hours to obtain the positive electrode active material having composition gradient characteristics such as a nickel rich to nickel poor gradient from the inside to the outside (Fig. 1a; [0068]-[0073], [0085]-[0098], [0106]). Sun further teaches the precursor being prepared by putting a first metal salt solution in a container, adding a second metal salt solution to said first metal salt solution, synchronously adding a solution and ammonia in said container to a reactor for co-precipitation and maintaining a pH of 9 to 13 and temperature of 35°C to 75°C while protecting with nitrogen ([0102]-[0105]). Sun is silent as to 1) cooling between steps (ii) and (iii); and raising the temperature to 750°C from room temperature at a rate of 2°C/min to 10°C/min and 2) from a core of the precursor to a shell of the precursor, a component content of nickel changing from high to low, while a component content of cobalt and a component content of manganese change from low to high. Lee teaches a positive electrode active material such as a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NCM material), wherein a concentration of Ni changes from high to low from a core of the precursor to a shell of the precursor and concentrations of Mn and Co change from low to high from a core of the precursor to a shell of the precursor ([0115] & [0158]-[0160]). It would have been obvious to provide a Ni gradient, Co gradient and Mn gradient as described in Han above for Sun’s active material in order to provide thermal stability without a reduction in capacity and improve capacity characteristics while reducing Co usage as taught by Lee ([0158]-[0160]). Wei teaches a method of preparing a positive electrode active material such as a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, comprising a step of furnace cooling of a sintered product of a lithium source and a hydroxide precursor between a prior to performing a second sintering step to produce the positive electrode active material, wherein the second sintering step including a temperature increase rate of 2.5°C/min to 10°C/min (Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to furnace cool the material in step (ii) of Sun raise the temperature at a rate of 2.5°C/min to 10°C/min in step (iii) to 750°C as a suitable means for obtaining a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide as a positive electrode active material of lithium battery as taught by Wei.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun (US 2022/0328821 A1), Wei (CN 105810934 A) and Lee (US 2018/0013129 A1), as applied to claims 1-11 & 13-18 above, and further in view of Park (US 2018/0261842 A1).
Regarding claim 12, Sun as modified by Wei and Lee teaches the method of claim 10 but is silent as to the stirring rate of said reactor ranging from 800 rpm to 1300 rpm. Park teaches a method of preparing a hydroxide precursor for a positive electrode active material, the method comprising a co-precipitation reaction inside a reactor using a stirring rate of 100 rpm to 2000 rpm ([0022]-[0070]) which overlaps with the presently claimed range. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to employ a stirring rate of 100 rpm to 2000 rpm for Sun’s modified method in view of optimizing the reaction speed as taught by Park ([0070]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. As presently claimed, the subject matter of claims 1-11 & 13-18 is found to be obvious over the combined teachings of Sun, Lee and Wei with claim 12 being found obvious further in view of Park. Thus, in view of the foregoing, claims 1-18 stand rejected.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727