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 1-7 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 1-5 & 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2019/0348705 A1) in view of Aoki (US 2022/0336795 A1).
Regarding claims 1-5 & 7, Chen teaches a lithium ion secondary battery comprising: a negative electrode (130) including a negative electrode active material such as carbon (Fig. 1E; [0091]-[0093]); a positive electrode (120) including a positive electrode active material including a positive electrode active material including a lithium-transition metal composite oxide in the form aggregated primary particles (Fig. 1E; [0087]-[0089]); a porous separator (131) coated with a water-repellent non-aqueous solid electrolyte (133) disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode (Figs. 1E-F; [0037], [0106]-[0107] & [0126]-[0127]); a liquid non-aqueous electrolyte including a lithium salt and a liquid aqueous electrolyte including a lithium salt including a lithium ion and an imide anion such as LiFSI, wherein the aqueous electrolyte is in contact with only the positive electrode between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and the non-aqueous electrolyte is in contact with at least the negative electrode between the negative electrode and the positive electrode (Table 3). Chen is silent as to a surface modification layer including at least one of the claimed elements being formed on a surface of a primary particle of the lithium transition metal composite oxide. Aoki teaches a positive electrode active material comprising a lithium transition metal composite oxide comprising a surface modification layer consisting of Sr and at least one of O, H and C formed on a surface of a primary particle of the lithium transition metal composite oxide ([0023]-[0033]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to form a surface modification layer, as described above, on Chen’s positive electrode active material in order to provide a source for the negative electrode coating to inhibit side reactions with the electrolyte and to improve the charge-discharge characteristics as taught by Aoki ([0027]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2019/0348705 A1) and Aoki (US 2022/0336795 A1), as applied to claims 1-5 & 7 above, and further in view of Hotta (US 2020/0295403 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Chen as modified by Aoki teaches the lithium ion secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the lithium salt in the aqueous electrolyte can include a lithium ion and an imide anion at a high concentration ([0060]) but is silent as to a concentration of the lithium salt in the electrolyte ranging from 4.5 mol/L to 6 mol/L. Hotta teaches a lithium-ion secondary battery comprising an aqueous electrolyte comprising a lithium salt such as LiFSI at a concentration of preferably 3 mol/L in contact with a positive electrode ([0039] & [0070]-[0078]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to use LiFSI with a concentration ranging from 4.5 mol/L to 6 mol/L in order to suppress electrolysis of the aqueous solvent due to the high concentration of carrier ions as taught by Hotta ([0078]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-7 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. The amendment to claim 1 has prompted a new ground of rejection in view of the newly cited Aoki reference. As presently claimed, claims 1-5 & 7 are found to be obvious over the combined teachings of Chen and Aoki with claim 6 being found obvious further in view of Hatta. Thus, in view of the foregoing, claims 1-7 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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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.
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727