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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 19-23, 26-31 and 38-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The recited “a weight a weight average molecular weight of at least 1,000 Dalton or a weight averaged MW ranging from 2000 to 2,000,000 Daltons” of claim 19 should be “a weight average molecular weight of at least 1,000 Dalton or a weight average molecular weight ranging from 2,000 to 2,000,000 Daltons” for consistency.
The recited “weight averaged MW” appears two other locations of claim 19 and claim 26 has the same issue.
The “SPAN” of claim 21 is indefinite absent a full chemical name.
Insertion of “,” before “the configuration” in line 4 of claim 28 for a clarification.
The “a cathode material herein described’ in line 2 of claim 29 is indefinite absent description.
The “--- a cathode material is described comprises” in lines 1-2 of claim 31 is confusing.
Insertion of “the” after “wherein” in line 1 and after “and” in line 2 of claim 45 is needed for a proper antecedent basis.
Insertion of “the” before “S-linked redox” below “Formula (IIIA)” of claim 49 is needed for a proper antecedent basis.
Insertion of “the” after “Formula (IIIA)”” in line 2 of claim 50 is needed for a proper antecedent basis.
The preamble “The S-linked quinone copolymer of claim 50” in line 1 of claim 51 should be “The redox active composite of claim 50”.
The recited “can be 1:4” in line 3 of claim 52 is indefinite since it is no a positive limitation.
The “SPAN” in line 2 and “S-BOP” in line 4 of claim 53 are indefinite absent full chemical names.
A nature of “cp(S-TTCA)@rGO-80” of claim 53 is unclear.
The “Super-P carbon” and “Super-P C65 (SPC65) of claim 57 are indefinite since they are tradenames.
Other claims depend from the indefinite claim would be also indefinite.
EXAMINER’S COMMENT
Song et al. (Poly(benzoquinonyl sulfide) as a High-Energy Organic Cathodes for Rechargeable Li and Na Batteries, Advanced Science, 2025 Vol. 2, Article -numer:1500124 (20 pages) teach a synthesis route of PBQS (Poly(benzoquinonyl sulfide) in b) of Scheme 1 of page 2 which would be a homopolymer. Although Song et al. do not specify a value of a repeating unit n, Song et al. teach that the PBQS shows a high energy density of 734 W h kg-1 (2.67.V X 275 mA h g-1) in Li battery or 557 W h kg-1 (2.08 V X 268 mA h g-1) in Na battery in abstract of page 1 and such properties would be the result of a polymer having a high molecular weight such as at least few thousands. Song et al. teach that a conjugated-carbonyl-based organic cathode material, the redox potential is usually between 1.5 and 3.0 V verses Li+/Li in a middle of right column at page 1 meeting the instantly recited redox potential of claim 19.
Machine translated JP 2001512526 A (Aug. 21, 2001) teaches polyquinone-based ionic compounds. It teaches that a molecular weight of the oligomers is less than 2000 g/mol in lines 10-11 of page 4.
Thus, molecular weight of the homopolymer PBQS taught by Song et al. would be expected to have a molecular weight of more than 2000 g/mol which would fall within scope of the recited ranges of m and weight molecular weight of the claim 19.
Song et al. are silent as to the instant sulfurized carbon matrix having Formula (V) of claim 19.
Although utilization of the sulfurized carbon matrix is known as taught by Weret et al. (Machanistic understanding of the Sulfurized-Poly(acrylonitrile) cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries, Energy Storage Materials 26 (2020), 483-493) and Tour et al. (US 2021/0202943 A1 (Jul. 1, 2021)), the sulfurized carbon matrices taught by Weret et al. and Tour e al. are different from the sulfurized carbon matrix having Formula (V) of claim 19.
All claims would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Stewart et al. (US 2020/0109228 A1) teach a network polymer for an electrode comprising a crosslinked polymer having repeating unit m being 5 to 1,000 and a weight average molecular weight of at least 1,500 Dalton in [0006-0012]
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/TAE H YOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
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