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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2020/0099061 A1 to Price et al. (Price).
As to claims 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18, Price teaches a catalyst coated membrane comprising a three layered proton exchange membrane, an anode catalyst comprising iridium oxide with a noble metal loading of, for example, 0.4 mg/cm2 applied to a first side of the membrane and a cathode catalyst comprising platinum on a carbon support applied to an opposite second side of the membrane. Price further teaches that each of the membrane layers can be formed of Nafion, and that any three layers of the membrane can comprise a reinforcing material formed of expanded PTFE with the thickness of each layer being independently, for example, 7 to 40 microns (Abstract; Paragraphs 0055-0060, 0068, 0069, 0070, 0082, 0086-0088, 0101 and 0106; Figure 1), thus teaching an embodiment wherein the central layer is not reinforced and the outer layers are reinforced and an embodiment substantially equivalent to Applicant’s own disclosure (Specification Example 1) and thus, as evidenced by Applicant’s disclosure, inherently possessing the property of “an areal expansion of the catalyst-coated membrane is less than 15% after being held for two hours in water heater to 100°C” (MPEP 2113).
As to claim 17, Price teaches the membrane of claim 11. Price further teaches that the iridium catalyst can be supported on antimony doped tin oxide (Paragraph 0101).
As to claim 19, Price teaches the membrane of claim 11. As discussed above, Price teaches that the membrane thickness is from 7 to 40 microns. Price further teaches that the proton exchange membrane comprises a recombination catalyst (Paragraphs 0055-0060).
As to claim 20, as discussed above, Price teaches the catalyst coated membrane of claim 11. Price further teaches that the membrane is utilized in a water electrolysis cell (Abstract).
Conclusion
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/CIEL P CONTRERAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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