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 Application
Claims 1,2,4-9,11 are currently pending. Claims 3 and 10 are canceled. Claim 1 is currently amended.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/17/2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS filed 07/25/2025 and 10/20/2025 were mistakenly omitted by the Examiner in the previous Office Action. They have been considered and attached in this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are not found persuasive 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.
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.
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) 1-2,4-8, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US20200243848A1, IDS cited 11/18/2021), in view of Jeong (US20160013481A1).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 4, Kim discloses a negative electrode for a rechargeable lithium battery [0094-0096], comprising:
a current collector (current collector 10 in Fig 3 [0040]);
a first negative active material layer (“second negative electrode active material layer 40” in Fig 3; [0042]) on one side of the current collector (i.e., above the current collector 10; see Fig 3) and comprising a first negative active material (i.e., a silicon-based active material [Kim 0042, 0055-0058]) and a linear conductive material (i.e., carbon nanotube in Fig 3; [Kim 0042-0054]) {claim 2}; and
a second negative active material layer (“first negative electrode active material layer 30”; Fig 3) on one side of the first negative active material layer (i.e., below the layer 40; see Fig 3) and comprising a second negative active material (“carbonaceous active material” in Fig 3; e.g., natural/artificial graphite [0040, 0059-0067] -Kim) and a particle shaped conductive material (i.e., carbonaceous material; e.g., carbon black [0059])
Kim further discloses wherein the negative active material layer 40 (i.e., the claimed first negative active material layer) may comprise a silicon-based active material (e.g., Si, Si alloy, Si oxide (e.g. SiO2, SiOx (1<x<2), or the like), or a combination thereof [0055]]) and may further include a carbonaceous active material in addition to the silicon-based active material [0033].
However, Kim does not disclose:
wherein the first negative active material comprises a Si-carbon composite, wherein the Si-carbon composite comprises a core comprising a mixture of Si particles and a first carbon-based material, the first carbon-based material is amorphous carbon or crystalline carbon.
In this regard, Jeong teaches an anode active material for a lithium secondary battery (title), wherein the anode active material comprises a core layer 10 (Fig 1) comprising a carbon-silicon composite (“silicon particles dispersed in a carbonaceous material” [0035-0037]) and a shell layer 20 [0035, 0048-0051], wherein the core layer may have a mass ratio of Si to C of 1:99 to 10:90 and includes at least one carbonaceous material selected from the group consisting of natural or artificial graphite, soft carbon, hard carbon, pitch carbide, calcined coke, graphene [0039, 0041] which are amorphous carbon or crystalline carbon, as claimed. Jeong further teaches that such anode active material exhibits high-capacity silicon properties while also improving the life characteristics of a secondary battery by mitigating the volume expansion problem during charge and discharge [Jeong 0037].
Thus, it would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the first negative active material of Kim to have comprised a Si-carbon composite, wherein the Si-carbon composite comprises a core comprising a mixture of Si particles and carbon-based material, the first carbon-based material being amorphous carbon or crystalline carbon, with a reasonable expectation to provide an anode having high capacity that also improves life characteristics of a secondary battery ([0037 Jeong]).
Kim further discloses wherein the first negative active material is free of any particle shaped conductive material (see Fig 3; [0031-0032, 0040]).
Regarding claim 5-6, modified Kim discloses the negative electrode of claim 1, wherein the carbonaceous active material in the layer 30 (i.e., the claimed second negative active material layer) may include an artificial graphite (Example 1 [0099] Kim), which a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize as crystalline carbon {claim 5}.
Kim further discloses that the carbonaceous active materials may include natural graphite, artificial graphite, or a combination of natural graphite with artificial graphite [0059-0060] {claim 6}. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to add another crystalline carbon such as natural graphite, with a reasonable expectation to provide lithium-ion intercalation/deintercalation [0059 Kim].
Regarding claim 7, modified Kim discloses the negative electrode of claim 1, wherein the thickness ratio of the negative electrode active material layer 30 (i.e., the second negative active material layer of the instant application) and the negative electrode active material layer 40 (i.e., the first negative active material layer of the instant application)may be 90:10-10:90, 90:10-30:70, or 90:10-50:50 [Kim 0069], which overlaps with the claimed range of “a thickness of the second negative active material layer is about 1% to about 75% of a total thickness of the first negative active material layer and the second negative active material layer”. Kim further discloses that when the thickness ratio satisfies the above-defined range, the electrode layers and the current collector are bound well to form a conductive path and output characteristics, capacity and cycle characteristics may be improved [Kim 0069].
Thus, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to select the overlapping thickness ratio with a reasonable expectation to form a conductive path and improve output characteristics, capacity and cycle characteristics [Kim 0069].
Regarding claim 8, modified Kim teaches a rechargeable lithium battery [0106-0107 Kim], comprising: the negative electrode of claim 1 [0099-0102 Kim]; a positive electrode [0104]; and an electrolyte [0106 Kim].
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US20200243848A1, IDS cited 11/18/2021), in view of Jeong (US20160013481A1, previously cited), and Ko (US20190123356A1, IDS cited 10/20/2025).
Regarding claim 9, modified Kim discloses the negative electrode of claim 1, wherein the linear conductive material has an average length of 0.5 μm to 20 μm [0046 - Kim], which does not fall within the claimed range of “about 30 μm to about 100 μm”.
In this regard, Ko teaches an electrode for rechargeable lithium battery, an active material layer of the electrode comprises an active material and carbon nanotubes, wherein the carbon nanotubes have an average length of about 40 μm to about 250 μm [0021 Ko], which overlaps with the claimed range of “about 30 µm to about 100 µm”.
Ko further teaches that when the carbon nanotubes have an average length of greater than or equal to about 40 μm, an active material layer including the same may reduce resistance of an electrode, and thus, improve performance of a rechargeable battery, and when the average length of less than or equal to about 250 μm, resistance of a rechargeable battery may be reduced, and high-rate charge and discharge performance of the rechargeable battery may be improved [0021 Ko].
Thus, a person having ordinary skill in the art would modify the linear conductive material of Kim, such that it is in the overlapping average length, with a reasonable expectation to reduce resistance of an electrode while also improving high-rate charge/discharge performance of the battery [0021 Ko].
Kim further discloses wherein the carbon nanotubes have an average diameter of 10-120 nm to prevent a side reaction with lithium ions, to improve the initial efficiency, to prevent degradation of the binding ability of the negative electrode active material layer, to improve cycle characteristics of a lithium secondary battery [0046, 0048- Kim], which encompasses the claimed width range of “about 10 nm to about 40nm”.
Thus, it would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art to have selected the overlapping average diameter of carbon nanotubes, with a reasonable expectation to prevent a side reaction with lithium ions, prevent degradation of the binding ability of the negative electrode active material layer, and further improve cycle characteristics of a lithium secondary battery [0046, 0048- Kim].
Conclusion
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/T.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/Haroon S. Sheikh/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
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