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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/14/2022 and 09/19/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Line 14 and 4 of claim 1 and claim 3 respectively states “PLD method” which does not distinctly explain what the deposition acronym stands for.
Claims 2-14 are rejected based on claim dependency of claim 1
Line 3 of claim 10 states “other constituents” to describe the cathode mixture but does not distinctly describe what materials are included.
Claims 11-12 are rejected based on claim dependency of claim 10.
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) 1-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamimura (JP2008171588A) in further view of Reynolds (US20120270114A1), Lee (US20100143769A1), and Mayer (US20170324113A1).
As to claims 1, 8, and 16, Kamimura teaches a lithium secondary battery having excellent battery performance (par. [0008]). Kamimura discloses a positive and negative electrolyte layer wherein inorganic material Li-P-O-N may be used for the positive electrode solid electrolyte layer, and inorganic material Li-P-S-O may be used for the negative electrode solid electrolyte layer. The negative electrode active material layer (fig. 1A – active material layer 22) is successively formed by a vapor phase deposition method (par. [0023]) wherein the negative electrode active material layer may be made of any known material, such as lithium metal (par. [0017]). The negative electrode active material layer lies on a metal current collector (fig. 1B – negative electrode support 21) wherein metal film serves as a current collector (par. [0028]) to ultimately form the anode component (fig. 1A – negative electrode laminate 20). A negative inorganic solid electrolyte (fig. 1B – negative electrode solid electrolyte NSE layer 23) is deposited on the surface of the negative electrode active material (lithium metal). The NSE layer was formed on the negative electrode active material layer via a vapor phase deposition method (par. [0063]). Kamimura further discloses in FIG. 1(B) that the positive electrode stack and negative electrode stack are separately produced (par. [0057]). It is evident in figure 1B that the contact surfaces of the cathode and anode laminates comprise inorganic solid electrolyte (fig. 1B – NSE layer 23, PSE layer 13). The anode and cathode laminates are fabricated separately but are stacked postproduction. We can assume that mechanical compression when joining indicates that pressure was involved to join the two stacks.
Reynolds teaches a composite cathode that combines a known active cathode material with a solid electrolyte and graphite powder to enhance the electrical conductivity of the cathode (par. [0028]). Reynolds discloses that the use of a conductive additive (graphite powder) increases the upper temperature limit for cathode densification (par. [0034]). Then a thin layer of the cathode mixture/composite is deposited onto a cathodic current collector to produce the cathode (fig. 1 – cathode 50).
Lee teaches a lithium anode layer (fig. 1 – lithium anode layer 18) fabrication method. Lee discloses Li metal anodes encapsulated between electrically conductive substrates and solid lithium stable overlayers can be created by a two-step fabrication process (par. [0042]). In step 1, a solid lithium stable inorganic ion conductor is deposited onto substrate by evaporation (par. [0042]). This layer can also be deposited by sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), or other suitable method known to the art (par. [0042]) to ultimately fabricate Li metal anodes (par. [0027]).
Mayer teaches a sulfide-containing solid electrolyte layer is one or more of evaporated lithium phosphorous sulfide or, generally, lithium phosphorous sulfide (LPS) (par. [0010]). Mayer discloses that the use of inorganic solid electrolytes provides benefits of single cation conduction, wide electrochemical window, and simple electrochemical reactions (par. [0055]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the cathode mixture of Reynold’s invention, the deposition method of Lee’s invention and the solid electrolyte material of Mayer’s invention to Kamimura’s a lithium secondary battery to increase the upper temperature limit for cathode densification (par. [0034]), fabricate Li metal anodes (par. [0027]), and simplify simple electrochemical reactions (par. [0055]) respectively.
As to claim 2, modified Kamimura teaches a negative electrode active material layer comprising lithium metal (par. [0017]) formed by a vapor phase deposition method (par. [0023]). Kamimura fails to disclose the thickness of the anode active material layer.
Reynolds further teaches a typical thick film electrode can be anywhere from a few microns up to a millimeter in thickness (par. [0042]) due to thick film deposition techniques being inexpensive (par. [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the anode thickness range of Reynold’s invention to Kamimura’s invention to employ an inexpensive deposition technique (par. [0029]).
As to claim 3, modified Kamimura teaches a solid lithium stable inorganic ion conductor is deposited onto substrate by evaporation; wherein this layer can also be deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as taught by Lee previously.
Mayer further teaches a lithium layer (first layer) (fig. 3D – 312) and a lithium sulfide layer (fig. 3D – 310). Mayer discloses that the transferred lithium formed a lithium sulfide layer and releases metal thereby forming lithium layer (par. [0114]). During cell cycling, lithium is transferred (in the form of lithium ions) through lithium sulfide layer and sulfur-containing layer, which collective operate as a solid electrolyte (par. [0116]).
Lee further teaches the lithium metal anode (first layer) is deposited to a thickness of between about 10 μm and about 100 μm (par. [0037]) to produce bulk batteries that are used in devices such as laptop computers, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (par. [0017]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the lithium layers of Mayers invention and the thickness range of the lithium metal layer of Lee’s invention to Kamimura’s anode laminate to transfer lithium (par. [0116]) and to produce bulk batteries (par. [0037]) respectively.
As to claim 4, modified Kamimura teaches an intervening layer (fig. 2A – intervening layer 30) which facilitates the conduction of lithium ions in the overlapping portion of the positive and negative electrode laminates (par. [0014]. The intervening layer is made of a lithium-ion conductive polymer or an ionic liquid wherein inorganic materials can be used (par. [0009]). The thickness of the intervening layer isn’t listed but we can assume that it is less than 50 micrometers.
As to claim 5, modified Kamimura teaches an intervening layer made of a lithium-ion conductive polymer or an ionic liquid. When using ionic liquids, Kamimura states that a combination of liquids may be used, so two or more inorganic ionic compounds may be used. The statement ‘at most’ means that both inorganic materials can be ionically conductive which the intervening layer does employ ionically conductive materials (par. [0057]).
As to claim 6, modified Kamimura teaches an inorganic solid electrolyte comprising lithium phosphorous sulfide (LPS) as taught by Mayer previously. The LPS solid electrolyte sits on the surface of the intervening layer (fig. 2A – PSE layer 13).
As to claim 7, modified Kamimura teaches an anode current collector (fig. 2A – negative electrode support 21) comprising a negative electrode active material layer on the surface with a thickness of 5 μm (par. [0062]). On the surface of the anode lithium metal layer is an intervening layer (fig. 2A – intervening layer 30). On the surface of the intervening layer is a positive electrode solid electrolyte layer comprising lithium phosphorous sulfide (LPS) as taught by Mayer previously.
Mayer further teaches an anolyte that provides a protective layer over a lithium metal anode (par. [0004]). The anolyte may be composed of lithium sulfide which is an inorganic compound. Mayer discloses that the thickness of anolyte layer is between about 5 nanometers and 200 nanometers (par. [0083]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the thickness range of the anolyte layer of Mayer’s invention to Kamimura’s intervening layer to provide a protective layer over the lithium metal anode (par. [0004]).
As to claim 9, modified Kamimura teaches a positive active material layer (fig. 3A – active material layer 12) comprising cathode particles with an intervening layer (inorganic material layer) on the surface. The intervening layer has a thickness between 5 and 200 nanometers as taught by Mayer previously and is applied to the PSE layer (par. [0065]). We can assume the term ‘applied’ is a form of deposition.
As to claims 10-12, modified Kamimura teaches a composite cathode that combines a known active cathode material with a solid electrolyte and graphite powder to enhance the electrical conductivity of the cathode (par. [0028]). Then a thin layer of the cathode mixture/composite is deposited onto a cathodic current collector to produce the cathode (fig. 1 – cathode 50) as taught by Reynolds previously.
Reynolds further teaches the densification of the cathode to avoid air or gas pockets. (par. [0034]). Reynolds discloses that it is desirable to densify the cathode by simultaneously applying heat and pressure (par. [0034]). we can assume that the densification and heat treatment alters the structure and improves adherence of the cathode layer to the current collector. When high surface area graphite powder is added to the cathode mixture, the upper temperature limit for cathode densification will be 650° C (par. [0034]). We can assume that the densification can also take place at lower temperatures therefore satisfying the densification temperature range of claims 11-12.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the cathode densification and temperature range of Reynolds invention to Kamimura’s cathode fabrication process to avoid air or gas pockets. (par. [0034]).
As to claim 13, modified Kamimura teaches a solid electrolyte layer comprising lithium phosphorous sulfide (LPS) as taught by Mayer previously.
Mayer further teaches that the electrolyte main portion (fig. 1A – 120) may include at least one of the following elements in addition to sulfur and lithium: lithium, phosphorous, silicon, germanium, arsenic, and tin wherein none of the listed electrolyte materials include cathode-material particles. The electrolyte main portion is located between the anode and cathode layers (fig. 1A – anode, cathode 116, 126) and has a thickness between about 10 nm to 100 microns (par. [0083]). Mayer discloses the thickness of electrolyte main portion may be much greater than that of anolyte layer such that characteristics of main portion dominate characteristics of anolyte layer (par. [0083]). Mayer further discloses that it is generally beneficial for the thickness of the anolyte to be much thinner than the thickness of the electrolyte so that the overall ionic conductivity of the electrolyte-anolyte combination is suitable for most battery applications (par. [0083]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the electrolyte materials and thickness of Mayer’s invention to Kamimura’s NSE and PSE layers so that the overall ionic conductivity of the electrolyte-anolyte combination is suitable for most battery applications (par. [0083]).
As to claim 14, modified Kamimura teaches the assembly of a lithium secondary battery (par. [0008]) utilizing a lithium anode (fig. 1A – active material layer 22; par. [0017]), cathode (fig. 1A – active material layer 12), and solid electrolyte layers (fig. 1A – PSE, NSE layer 13, 23). The negative electrode active material layer comprising lithium (fig. 1A – active material layer 22) is successively formed by a vapor phase deposition method (par. [0023]) wherein laser ablation is a method of phase vapor deposition. Kamimura states that when the positive electrode active material layer, the solid electrolyte layer, and the negative electrode active material layer are successively formed by a vapor phase deposition method, there is no risk of the positive electrode laminate being deteriorated in a high-temperature atmosphere when the negative electrode laminate is formed (par. [0023]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JADE S SIMMONS whose telephone number is (571)270-7254. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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, Barbara Gilliam can be reached at (571) 272 1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
JADE SIMMONS
Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/BARBARA L GILLIAM/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1727
Prosecution Insights