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
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.
1. Claims 1-11, 18, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hunegnaw et al. (US20200216968).
2. Regarding claims 1-11, 18, 19, Hunegnaw teaches membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for an electrochemical device (see Fig. below; Nafion-based inks used in fuel cells and electrolyzers [0278])), the MEA comprising: a first gas diffusion electrode (GDE) comprising a first gas diffusion layer (GDL) coated with a first catalyst layer, a second GDE comprising a second GDL coated with a second catalyst layer,
a thin membrane coated on the first catalyst layer of the first GDE and/or on the second catalyst layer of the second GDE, wherein a total thickness of the thin membrane is at most 30 microns, wherein the first and the second GDEs are joined together to form the MEA with the thin membrane located between the first and the second catalyst layers (Hot pressing: heating the MEA under pressure to bond the layers together [0282]), and a seal configured to seal the MEA (There can also be various gaskets that prevent leakage of reactants and products from the cell [0328]).
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3. Hunegnaw teaches wherein the jointing together is carried out over a joined area which is pressed mechanically and/or crosslinked chemically (Hot pressing: heating the MEA under pressure to bond the layers together [0282]).
4. Hunegnaw teaches wherein the first and/or the second GDL comprises a microporous layer (the gas diffusion layers 1826, 1846 are microporous [0320]).
5. Hunegnaw teaches wherein the seal includes an infused sealing material and/or gaskets, and seals all sides of the joined first and second GDEs (There can also be various gaskets that prevent leakage of reactants and products from the cell [0328]).
6. Hunegnaw teaches wherein the thin membrane comprises ionomer (a cathode buffer layer having an anion-conducting polymer [0161]) and reinforcing nanoparticles (Materials that are suitable as inert filler particles include, but are not limited to, TiO2, silica, PTFE, zirconia, and alumina [0261-0262]).
7. Hunegnaw teaches wherein each of the MEAs is sealed independently of the sealing of the other MEAs in the stack (FIG. 1A shows schematic examples of MEAs [0042]; FIG. 8 is a plot showing performance of two MEAs, both with bipolar membranes having a thin AEM and a thin cation-conducting PEM. The MEAs differ in the test setup (flow field and compression) [0080]).
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 of this title, 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.
8. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hunegnaw et al. (US20200216968) in view of Dresp et al. (US 20210028465 PCT filed 4/11/2019).
9. Hunegnaw teaches operate alternately as a fuel cell in a fuel cell mode and as an electrolyzer in an electrolyzer mode, wherein the hydrogen-side catalyst layer of the MEAs is configured to catalyze hydrogen oxidation in the fuel cell mode and to catalyze hydrogen formation in the electrolyzer mode (In a PEM fuel cell, gas (O2 or H2) is transported in but nothing or product water comes out. And in a PEM water electrolyzer, water is the reactant with O2 and H2 gas products [0216]), and the oxidant-side catalyst layer of the MEAs is configured to catalyze oxygen reduction in the fuel cell mode and to catalyze oxygen formation in the electrolyzer mode (When in use, the anode of an MEA promotes an electrochemical oxidation reaction such as electrolysis of water to produce elemental oxygen and protons [0138]; .
10. Dresp teaches wherein the single stack of the reversible device comprises an AEM (anion exchange membranes) stack (The fuel cell 100 comprises, as a core component, a membrane electrode assembly 6, which in the present case preferably has an ion exchange membrane 1, and in each case one electrode 2, specifically an anode and a cathode, adjoining one of the two flat sides of the membrane 1. The ion exchange membrane 1 can be a polymer electrolyte membrane, preferably an anion exchange membrane [0054]; …a fuel cell or electrolysis system, in particular in a regenerative fuel cell or reversible electrolyzer (abstract)) for the benefit of improving overall conductivity and increases activity [0014].
11. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hunegnaw with Dresp’s teachings for the benefit of improving overall conductivity and increases activity.
12. Claims 13-17 and 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hunegnaw et al. (US20200216968) in view of Mohri et al. (US20210384538 filed 6/3/21).
13. Mohri wherein the self-refueling power-generating system (see Fig. below) for the benefit of a power management device that is configured to manage the flow of electric power in the power adjustment device (abstract).
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14. Mohri’s prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, and it reasonable to expect that the device of Mohri is capable of performing the claimed process, and as a result, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hunegnaw with Mohri’s teachings for the benefit of a power management device that is configured to manage the flow of electric power in the power adjustment device (abstract).
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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