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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II (a method of manufacturing an electrode for a secondary battery) and Group III (drawn to a secondary battery), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/09/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I drawn to claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 01/09/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities. A claim is supposed to comprise a single sentence starting with a capital letter and ending with a period. Please change “The” in “The average particle size” to “the”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Raman (US 2017/0256367 A1) in view of Wixom (US 2020/0313191 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Raman discloses an electrode for secondary battery comprising (see Fig. 1 [0034]): an electrode current collector (108); and
an electrode layer (112/114) positioned on the electrode current collector,
wherein the electrode layer comprises an electrode composition in which an active material, and a conductive material and a binder are dry-mixed ([0045]).
Raman discloses that the average particle size of the binder is less than 0.1 microns ([0028]) and further discloses that the conductive material ([0044]) has a surface area of 10-100m2/g and can comprise porous carbon ([0040]).
Wixom discloses a porous carbon material can be used in combination with a fibrilizable binder in a dry process ([0057]) to form an electrode precursor and furthermore the porous carbon can have pores ranging from 10 nm to 1000 nm ([0057]) and discloses that the large pores facilitates ion transport, which improves the electrical current density and rate retention for an electrode of given thickness and porosity, or enables electrodes to be processed to higher thickness or lower porosity for given capacity or rate retention ([0091]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to replace the carbon materials used of Raman with those of Wixom so that an average diameter of the micropore formed in the conductive material is the same as or larger than an average particle size of the binder as disclosed by Wixom because the large pores facilitates ion transport, which improves the electrical current density and rate retention for an electrode of given thickness and porosity, or enables electrodes to be processed to higher thickness or lower porosity for given capacity or rate retention.
Regarding claim 2, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, as noted from the modification above, Wixom discloses that the average diameter of the micropore formed in the conductive material is 10 nanometers to about 1000 nanometers ([0012]) which overlaps with the claimed range.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because selection of overlapping portion of ranges has been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness. In re Malagari, 182 USPQ 549.
Regarding claim 3, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, Raman discloses that the average particle size of the binder is less than 1 micron ([0028]) which overlaps with the claimed range.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because selection of overlapping portion of ranges has been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness. In re Malagari, 182 USPQ 549.
Regarding claim 4, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, as noted from the modification above, Wixom discloses that the specific surface area of the conductive material is 17 m2/g.
Regarding claim 5, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, Raman discloses a content of the conductive material is from 0.1 % by weight to 10% by weight or less based on the total weight of the electrode composition ([0044]).
Wixom discloses that the porous carbon (processing additive) can be present in an amount from 2-10% ([0064]).
Regarding claim 6, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition Wixom through modification above discloses that the conductive material comprises a 3D porous carbon material ([0071]).
In addition, Raman discloses the binder comprises polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ([0047]).
Regarding claim 7, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, Raman discloses that the binder and conductive material can be used to form a lithium ion cathode electrode ([0056]), however, does not disclose the active material comprises lithium manganese oxide.
Wixom discloses that the binder, porous carbon is mixed with lithium manganese oxide (LMO) to form a battery cathode ([0066][0098]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the electrode material of modified Raman to have LMO as disclosed by Wixom to form a battery cathode because Raman discloses that forming a lithium ion cathode electrode is a desired product.
Regarding claim 8, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
In addition, Raman discloses the electrode composition is in the form of a free-standing film, and the free-standing film is present on the electrode current collector ([0007][0008]).
Regarding claim 9, modified Raman discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
However, Raman does not explicitly disclose that the free-standing film has an elastic modulus value of 30 MPa to 400 MPa.
Wixom discloses that the processing additive lead to improved mechanical strength and processibility ([0089]).
It would have been obvious to modify the amount of processing additive (porous carbon) in the free-standing film of modified Raman to be optimized so that the claimed elastic modulus/mechanical strength/processibility can be achieved.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEVINA PILLAY whose telephone number is (571)270-1180. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30-6:00.
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DEVINA PILLAY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1726
/DEVINA PILLAY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726