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 .
This action is in response to Applicant’s response to election/restriction filed 12/23/2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 12/23/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/23/2025.
Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1-7 are being examined. Claims 8-20 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Michalska et al. (Michalska et al., “Microfluidic Processing of Ligand-Engineered NiO Nanoparticles for Low-Temperature Hole-Transporting Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells”, Sol. RRL 2021, 5, 2100342).
Considering claim 1, Michalska teaches a quantum dot (NiO NPs) comprising a nanoparticle (NiO) and at least one ligand (oleic acid (OA), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid or trimethyloxonium tetraborate) on a surface of the nanoparticle (Michalska, abstract and Figure 1 on page 3). Michalska teaches the quantum dot has a first emission spectrum, the first emission spectrum does not comprise any emission peak in a range of about 400 nm to about 800 nm and the first emission spectrum is from a measurement from a solution (toluene/DMF/IPA) containing the quantum dot (Michalska, Figure 2(c) and top of first column on page 5).
Considering claim 2, Michalska teaches the nanoparticle comprises a metal oxide by teaching NiO (Michalska, abstract).
Considering claims 3-6, Michalska teaches the at least one ligand comprises a main chain and a functional group, the main chain is hydrophobic and the functional group (COOH) comprises a site chemically bonded to the nanoparticle wherein the main chain comprises a C2-C60 alkenyl group and the functional group comprises one or more unshared electron pairs by teaching ligand engineering of NiO with oleic acid (OA) (Michalska, Figure 1 and section 2.1 on pages 3-4).
Considering claim 7, the claims are directed to a composition comprising a nanoparticle and at least one ligand on a surface of the nanoparticle wherein the first emission spectrum does not comprise any emission peak in the range of about 400 nm to about 800 nm. Michalska teaches the claimed composition; thus, it would be expected that the surface of the nanoparticle of Michalska would also not have any defect site.
Conclusion
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/ANITA NASSIRI-MOTLAGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734