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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed 09/22/2025 have been entered. They do overcome the 102 rejection as previously set forth, but amendments and arguments have necessitated a 103 rejection as set forth below.
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 1-14, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by ‘Evidence of covalent synergy in silicon–sulfur–graphene yielding highly efficient and long-life lithium-ion batteries’ hereinafter referred to as ‘Hassan’ ‘as evidenced by ‘EC (EthyleneCarbonate)’, hereinafter referred to as ‘Atman Chemical’ in view of (US-20170283524-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Wang’
Regarding Claim 12,
Hassan teaches an electrochemical energy storage device comprising (Hassan, “ The excellent performance combined with the simplistic, scalable and non-hazardous approach render the process as a very promising candidate for Li-ion battery technology.”, Abstract): an anode comprising: a plurality of active material particles (Hassan, “This involves wrapping SiNP”, Introduction), wherein each of the plurality of active material particles has a particle size of between about 1 nm and about 100 um (Hassan, “SiNP with a size range of 50–70 nm”, Methods); sulfur (Hassan , “Herein we introduce a new electrode design concept that capitalizes on the strong covalent interactions occurring between Si, sulfur”, Introduction); and at least one polymer (Hassan, “shielding this composite arrangement with cyclized polyacrylonitrile (PAN).”, see Introduction), wherein the plurality of active material particles is enclosed by the at least one polymer(Hassan, “shielding this composite arrangement with cyclized polyacrylonitrile (PAN).”, see Introduction) ; a cathode (Hassan, “and a Li metal counter electrode.”, Methods) ; and an electrolyte including a) an aprotic organic solvent system and b) a metal salt (Hassan, “The electrolyte used was 1 M LiPF6 in 30 wt% ethylene carbonate, 60 wt% dimethyl carbonate, and 10 wt% fluorinated ethylene carbonate”, see Methods) (The examiner notes that ethylene carbonate is an aprotic organic solvent, as evidenced by Ataman chemicals (“EC (Ethyelene Carbonate) is an organic, high aprotic solvent with a broad range of applications”))
Hassan does not teach elemental sulfur.
Wang teaches elemental sulfur (Wang, “the additive is at least one of metal or metal sulfide; varying an environment of the PAN and the elemental sulfur to simultaneously precipitate the PAN and the elemental sulfur,”, see [0005). Wang teaches that sulfur allows for the Pan to be sulfurized which improves the conductivity of the mixture (Wang, “Specifically, the PAN powder and elemental sulfur are mixed to form a mixture, which is then heated and completely reacted at 300° C., to form sulfurized polyacrylonitrile. The sulfurized polyacrylonitrile can be used as a cathode material of a lithium ion battery.”, see [0003]) (The examiner additionally notes that the instant application is similarly heated, see [0024]).
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 mixture with elemental sulfur in order to allow for the sulfurization of the PAN which would improve conductivity.
Regarding Claim 13,
Hassan teaches the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein the plurality of active material particles are silicon particles (Hassan, “Electrodes were fabricated using commercially available (Nanostructured & Amorphous Materials, Inc., Houston, USA) SiNP with a size range of 50–70 nm”, Methods).
Regarding Claim 14,
Hassan teaches the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein elemental sulfur encapsulates one or more of the active material particles to form sulfur-encapsulated active material particles, and the at least one polymer encapsulates the sulfur-encapsulated active material particles (Hassan, “This involves wrapping SiNP with S-doped graphene (SG), and then shielding this composite arrangement with cyclized polyacrylonitrile (PAN).”, Introduction)
Regarding Claim 16,
Hassan teaches the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein the at least one polymer comprises polyacrylonitrile (Hassan, “This involves wrapping SiNP with S-doped graphene (SG), and then shielding this composite arrangement with cyclized polyacrylonitrile (PAN).”, Introduction).
Regarding Claim 20,
The electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein the metal salt includes a lithium salt (Hassan, “The electrolyte used was 1 M LiPF6 in 30 wt% ethylene carbonate, 60 wt% dimethyl carbonate, and 10 wt% fluorinated ethylene carbonate”, see Methods).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by ‘Evidence of covalent synergy in silicon–sulfur–graphene yielding highly efficient and long-life lithium-ion batteries’ hereinafter referred to as ‘Hassan’, in view of (US-20170283524-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Wang’, in view of (US-20170084914-A1), hereinafter referred to as ‘Haag’
Regarding Claim 15,
Hassan teaches the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 14, wherein the elemental sulfur encapsulating one or more active material particles (Hassan, “This involves wrapping SiNP with S-doped graphene (SG), and then shielding this composite arrangement with cyclized polyacrylonitrile (PAN).”, Introduction).
Hassan does not teach wherein active material particles further includes one or more of hard-carbon, graphite, tin, and germanium particles such that the active material particles and one or more of hard-carbon, graphite, tin, and germanium particles.
Haag teaches wherein active material particles further includes one or more of hard-carbon, graphite, tin, and germanium particles such that the active material particles and one or more of hard-carbon, graphite, tin, and germanium particles (Haag, “a Li—S battery having a silicon and/or germanium anode”, see [0042]).
Haag teaches that germanium can accommodate a superior amount of lithium ions, and that germanium accepts lithium ions at a faster rate than other material (Hassan, “Further, germanium is inherently able to accept lithium ions at a faster rate than other proposed anode materials this has been empirically verified with test data”, see [0050])
Hassan and Haag are analogous as they both come from the same field of battery materials for anodes in lithium-ion batteries.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the active material silicon as taught in Hassan with the germanium as taught in Haang in order to improve the rate of lithium transfer in the battery anode.
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by ‘Evidence of covalent synergy in silicon–sulfur–graphene yielding highly efficient and long-life lithium-ion batteries’ hereinafter referred to as ‘Hassan’, in view of (US-20170283524-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Wang’ in view of ‘Surface modification of over-lithiated layered oxide by low-temperature chemical vapor deposition for high energy lithium-ion batteries’ hereinafter referred to as ‘Son’.
Regarding Claim 17,
Hassan does not teach the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein the cathode comprises a lithium metal oxide, spinel, olivine, carbon-coated olivine, vanadium oxide, lithium peroxide, sulfur, polysulfide, a lithium carbon monofluoride or mixture thereof.
Son teaches wherein the cathode comprises a lithium metal oxide, spinel, olivine, carbon-coated olivine, vanadium oxide, lithium peroxide, sulfur, polysulfide, a lithium carbon monofluoride or mixture thereof (Son, “The OLO powder of Li1.18Ni0.17Co0.1Mn0.56O2”, Experimental).
Son teaches that this cathode material shows improved performance, rate capability, high initial capacity (Son, “he surface modified OLO shows improved performance due to its enhanced rate capability, high initial capacity, and long cycle life.”, see Abstract)
Hassan and Son are analogous as they both relate to the same field of lithium-ion batteries.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cathode as taught in Hassan, with the cathode material as taught in Son in order to improve the rate capabilities of the cell overall.
Regarding Claim 18,
Modified Hassan teaches the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, wherein the cathode is a transition metal oxide material and comprises an over-lithiated oxide material (Son, “In comparison to traditional lithium-ion battery cathode materials, over-lithiated layered oxides cathodes (OLOs) contain extra lithium ions.”, see Abstract).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by ‘Evidence of covalent synergy in silicon–sulfur–graphene yielding highly efficient and long-life lithium-ion batteries’ hereinafter referred to as ‘Hassan’, in view of (US-20170283524-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Wang’, in view of ‘Separator technologies for lithium-ion batteries’, hereinafter referred to as ‘Huang’
Regarding Claim 19,
Hassan does not teach the electrochemical energy storage device of claim 12, further comprising: a porous separator separating the anode and the cathode from each other.
Huang teaches a porous separator separating the anode and the cathode from each other (Huang, “Commercial separators are made of porous polyolefin membranes.”, Introduction).
Huang also teaches that porous separators have small thickness, great chemical resistance, and good mechanical properties (Huang, “They have small thickness, excellent chemical resistance, and good mechanical properties”, Conclusion)
Hassan and Huang are analogous as they are of the same field of lithium-ion batteries.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cell as taught in Hassan with the separator as taught in Huang in order to improve the chemical resistance, mechanical properties, and minimize the thickness of the separator.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pg. 4, the applicant argues:
“Hasan teaches only the use of sulfur-doped graphene (SG), in which sulfur atoms are covalently bonded to a graphene lattice…The qualifying adjective ‘elemental’ used in claim 12 when describing sulfur must be given patentable weight using its commonly understood meaning, which in this case requires that the sulfur component of the anode being unbonded to any other element. ”
However, this is partially convincing. Hassan teaches sulfur as an element within the structure and the examiner does not necessarily agree that the commonly understood meaning of ‘elemental’ is something which is unbonded. The claim language nor the specification limited the term. However, for the sake of compact prosecution, The examiner is making of record, (US-20170283524-A1), hereinafter referred to as ‘Wang’ which teaches elemental sulfur (Wang, “the additive is at least one of metal or metal sulfide; varying an environment of the PAN and the elemental sulfur to simultaneously precipitate the PAN and the elemental sulfur,”, see [0005). Wang teaches that sulfur allows for the PAN to be sulfurized which improves the conductivity of the mixture (Wang, “Specifically, the PAN powder and elemental sulfur are mixed to form a mixture, which is then heated and completely reacted at 300° C., to form sulfurized polyacrylonitrile. The sulfurized polyacrylonitrile can be used as a cathode material of a lithium-ion battery.”, see [0003]) (The examiner additionally notes that the instant application is similarly heated, see [0024]). 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 sulfur compound with elemental sulfur in order to allow for the sulfurization of the PAN which would improve conductivity.
On pg. 5
“A close reading of Hassan reveals that the term ‘wrapping’ as used in Hassan does not mean encapsulating... Figures 1f and 6e do not show the sulfur-doped graphene sheets as fully encapsulating the silicon particles, since the sheets are not bound [sic] the sides of the silicon particles ”
However this is not convincing. The examiner here finds that Hassan meets the plain meaning of the term encapsulate. Oxford Languages defines it as “enclose (something) in or as if in a capsule.” The examiner notes the image below. The figure is a cross-section so it can be presumed that the particle is full enclosed with the PAN structure. The examiner notes that this feature is also known in the art, as further described in (US-20190267617-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Evans’ which is made of record here but not relied upon for the rejection (Evans, Fig. 2) . Therefore, Hassan teaches the feature as claimed.
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Conclusion
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/S.P.M./Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752