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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 13, 2026 has been entered.
Status of the Rejection
All rejections from the previous office action are withdrawn in view of the Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (Yu, Jinxing, et al. "Visible light active titanoniobate nanosheets for efficient photocatalytic H2 production from water." Journal of Catalysis 377 (2019): 409-418).
Yu et al. teaches a catalyst layer comprising: a carrier that is a nanosheet (Title and Abstract) made of an oxide containing layered niobate KTiNbO5 (Abstract); and a catalyst (Cr/Nb doping on the titanoniobate nanosheets, Experimental section 2.1; or, alternatively, Pt was loaded as a cocatalyst to promote hydrogen evolution, Experimental section 2.3) supported on the carrier.
Yu et al. teaches that titanoniobate nanosheets are efficient for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water (Title) and thus would have photo-reducing ability since it is the same niobate material.
Regarding the limitation “included in a water electrolysis cell”, the catalyst layer of Yu et al. would be capable of being incorporated in a water electrolysis cell. In addition, Yu et al. teaches that photocatalyst is used for hydrogen production from water and thus would necessarily be incorporated in water electrolysis cell.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. in view of Townsend et al. (Townsend, Troy K., et al. "Photocatalytic water splitting with nano-K4Nb6O17." Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology V. Vol. 7770. SPIE, 2010).
Yu et al. teaches the catalyst layer of claim 1 above. Yu et al. does not explicitly teach the catalyst includes iridium oxide or ruthenium oxide.
Townsend et al. teaches functionalizing a niobate nanosheet photocatalyst for water splitting (Abstract). Townsend et al. teaches incorporating iridium oxide complexes in the niobate photocatalyst (Abstract). Townsend et al. further teaches that selective cocatalyst deposition reduce overpotentials for water splitting, and that using different combinations of catalysts/co-catalysts can be optimized to locate efficient and cost-effective catalysts for sustainable energy production (Conclusion).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the catalyst Yu et al. by incorporating the iridium oxide co-catalyst of Townsend et al. to reduce the overpotentials and optimize the efficiency of the water splitting process.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. in view of Price et al. (US 20200099061).
Yu et al. teaches the catalyst of claim 1 above. Yu et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the proportion of the carrier in the catalyst layer is 50 mass% or less.
Price et al. teaches a catalyst for water electrolysis. Price et al. teaches a supported catalyst wherein small nanoparticles of metal are dispersed on high surface area electrically conducting support (paragraph 87). In some embodiments, the metal nanoparticles have a weight proportion in the range of 10-90 weight % (paragraph 91).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the catalyst of Yu et al. by optimizing the proportion of catalyst particles on a support to be greater than 50 mass%, i.e., the carrier and the catalyst being 50 mass% or less, as taught by Price et al. in order to optimize the catalytic activity of the electrode. Since the catalyst provides the catalytic activity in an electrode, one having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to increase the amount of catalyst to improve the catalytic activity of the electrode.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davidson et al. (US 4333805) in view of Yu et al.
Davidson et al. teaches a membrane electrode assembly for water electrolysis (column 6, lines 15-16), comprising: a solid polymer electrolyte membrane 13 (Fig. 1, column 9 lines 41-47); an anode catalyst layer stacked on one surface of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane (column 5, lines 48-51; the anode catalyst comprising ruthenium oxide and manganese oxide); and a cathode catalyst layer stacked on the other surface of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane (column 5, lines 51-57).
Davidson et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the anode catalyst layer is the catalyst layer according to claim 1.
Yu et al. teaches a catalyst layer comprising: a carrier that is a nanosheet (Title and Abstract) made of an oxide containing layered niobate KTiNbO5 (Abstract); and a catalyst (Cr/Nb doping on the titanoniobate nanosheets, Experimental section 2.1; alternatively, Pt was loaded as a cocatalyst to promote hydrogen evolution, Experimental section 2.3) supported on the carrier.
Davidson et al. and Yu et al. are in the analogous art of hydrogen production from water using a catalyst. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the electrode of Davidson et al. with the support and catalyst of Yu et al., because the titanoniobate layer of Yu et al. is highly efficient for photocatalytic hydrogen production (Abstract).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant's disclosure.
Lin et al. (Lin, Hsin-Yu, and Yung-Shun Chang. "Photocatalytic water splitting on Au/HTiNbO5 nanosheets." International journal of hydrogen energy 39.7 (2014): 3118-3126) teaches layered potassium titanium niobate as a photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water splitting under UV light.
Ide et al. (Ide, Yusuke, et al. "Merging cation exchange and photocatalytic charge separation efficiency in an anatase/K2Ti4O9 nanobelt heterostructure for metal ions fixation." Inorganic Chemistry 57.10 (2018): 6045-6050) teaches K2Ti4O9 nanobelt (or nanosheet) as a photocatalyst.
CA 2791753 A1 teaches a support material for water splitting using K4Nb6O17 (Page 17).
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LUAN V. VAN
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1795
/LUAN V VAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1795