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
Response to Amendment
1. The amendment filed on 11/03/2025 has been made of record and entered.
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claim 3 has been canceled.
Claims 1-2 & 4-12 are currently pending in this application.
Status of Withdrawn Claim(s)
2. Claims 7-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention(s), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/30/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)
3. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, & 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Istvan et al. (US 8,709,972 B2), hereinafter “Istvan et al. ‘972”.
The claimed invention relates to an activated carbon comprising a carbon aggregate containing a plurality of linear carbons and having a specific surface area of 350 m2/g or more, wherein cross sections of the linear carbons are exposed on a surface of the carbon aggregate.
Istvan et al. ‘972 discloses an activated carbon which has been milled and steam activated. The milled activated carbon has a BET surface area of 738 m2/g, with a total pore volume of 0.455 cc/g and 48.1% micropore. See col. 21, Example 12, lines 13-20.
Regarding claims 1 & 6, the reference teaches the claimed activated carbon having the claimed surface area of more than 350 m2/g and a pore volume falling within the claimed range of 0.8 cm3/g to 3.0 cm3/g, thus anticipates the instant claims.
With respect to the claim limitation on “wherein cross sections of the linear carbons are exposed on a surface of the carbon aggregate”, it is inherent and expected that the activated carbon of the reference would have the same feature as claimed in view of the same BET surface area and pore volume disclosed and claimed.
Regarding claim 2, the carbon is carbon fiber (see col. 15, lines 1-7).
Regarding claim 4, it is considered the disclosed activated carbon would also comprise an amorphous carbon as well in view of the same activated carbon disclosed and claimed.
Response to Applicants’ Arguments
4. The remarks submitted with the amendment on 11/03/2025 have been fully reviewed and considered, however Applicants’ arguments are not deemed persuasive in view of a new ground of rejection to a newly discovered reference to Istvan et al. (8,709,972 B2).
Applicants argued, that Sakurai fails to disclose that the cross section of the linear carbons are exposed on a surface of the carbon aggregate. Applicants further argued, that the claimed activated carbon is prepared by (i) pretreating a carbon aggregate precursor by ball milling; and (ii) reacting the pretreated carbon aggregate precursor with CO2. The rejection made over Sakurai in the last office action has been withdrawn.
It is considered the newly discovered reference to Istvan et al. ‘972 teaches the claimed activated carbon, which has been ball milled and the carbon is a carbon fiber. See rejection section above for more details.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claim 5 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art does not appear to disclose or fairly suggest an activated comprising a carbon aggregate containing a plurality of linear carbons and having a specific surface area of 350 m2/g or more, wherein cross sections of the linear carbons are exposed on a surface of the carbon aggregate, and wherein ID/IG of the activated carbon is 2.0 or less,
wherein IG is a maximum peak intensity in the range of vibration frequencies from 1560 cm⁻¹ to 1600 cm⁻¹ measured by Raman spectroscopy, and ID is a maximum peak intensity in the range of vibration frequencies from 1310 cm⁻¹ to 1350 cm⁻¹ measured by Raman spectroscopy.
There is no motivation to combine the teachings of the prior art references together to arrive to the claimed invention.
Citations
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared.
Conclusion
7. Claims 1-2 & 4-12 are pending. Claims 1-2, 4, & 6 are rejected. Claim 5 is objected. Claims 7-12 are withdrawn. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
January 16, 2026