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 Claims
Claims 1, 13 & 19 are amended. Claim 15 is canceled. Claims 21 is newly added. Claims 1-14 & 16-21 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3, 5-14 & 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2012/0231341 A1) in view of Oshitari (US 2020/0106092 A1).
Regarding claims 1-3, 5-14 & 18-21, Kim teaches a secondary battery comprising a positive electrode sheet comprising a current collector and an electrode sheet material layer provided on at least one surface of the current collector ([0039]-[0046]), wherein the positive electrode sheet comprises a positive electrode active material including an A material which is a single crystal or single crystal-like material comprising a lithium iron phosphate such as LiFePO4 (LFP) having a Dv50 of 0.05 microns to 2 microns ([0021]-[0025] & [0035]; Table 1); and a B material, which can be primary particle or a secondary particle, comprising a lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) such as LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 having a Dv50 ranging from 0.5 microns to 7 microns ([0028]-[0030] & [0037]; Table 1), wherein the A material is present in a mixing ratio m of 65 wt% to 97 wt% based on a total weight of the positive electrode active material with the corresponding mixing ratio of the B material being 3 wt% to 35 wt% ([0020]). Kim is silent as to the A material having a Dv99 between 4.2 microns and 31 microns. Oshitari teaches a lithium-ion secondary battery comprising a positive electrode active material comprising a lithium iron phosphate having a Dv90 of 25 microns or less and preferably 20 microns or less ([0018]-[0019] & [0023]) such that a resulting value of Dv90 to Dv100 (i.e including Dv99) would necessarily be greater than 20 microns. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to limit Dv90 to a range of 20 microns or less because when the secondary particles exceeds 20 μm, in an electrode having a thin thickness of several tens of micrometers which is an ordinary thickness of an in-vehicle lithium ion secondary battery (which is one of the applications of Kim’s battery), protrusions and recesses derived from coarse secondary particles on the electrode surface are generated, the reaction distribution in the electrode becomes uneven due to the current concentration on the protrusion portions, and the charge and discharge performance degrades, which is not preferable as taught by Oshitari ([0025]). While Oshitari is silent as to a value of Dv99 or Dv100, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, based on the teachings of Oshitari, to minimize the size of the largest lithium iron phosphate particles (i.e Dv90 to Dv100) to at least around 20 microns to prevent coarse particles from being incorporated in the electrode surface which would result in protrusions and recesses being formed on the electrode surface which would lead to charge and discharge performance degradation as noted above.
Claims 4 & 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2012/0231341 A1) and Oshitari (US 2020/0106092 A1), as applied to claims 1-3, 5-14 & 18-21 above, and further in view of Fujii (US 2011/0223482 A1) and Theivanayagam (US 2016/0149205 A1).
Regarding claims 4 & 16-17, Kim teaches the positive electrode active material of claim 1 but is silent as to the A material having a specific surface area of 12 m2/g to 24 m2/g (claims 4 & 16) and 20 m2/g to 24 m2/g (claim 17).
Fujii teaches a positive electrode active material comprising a mixture of NCM and LFP, wherein the LFP has a specific surface area of 5 m2/g to 100 m2/g ([0027]-[0047]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to set a specific surface area of Kim’s A material to a range of 5 m2/g to 100 m2/g as a known result effective variable which affects the high-rate charge-discharge characteristics of the positive electrode as taught by Fujii ([0036]).
Theivanayagam teaches a positive electrode active material comprising a mixture of NCM and lithium metal phosphate (where the metal can include at least one of Mn and Fe), wherein the lithium metal phosphate has a specific surface area of 24 m2/g in exemplary embodiments ([0017]-[0019]; Table 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to use a specific surface area of 24 m2/g for Kim’s lithium metal phosphate as a suitable surface area for a lithium metal phosphate used in a positive electrode active material further NCM as taught by Theivanayagam.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-14 & 16-20 have been considered but are moot 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. The amendment to claim 1 has prompted a new ground of rejection in view of the newly cited Oshitari reference. As instantly claimed, the subject matter of claims 1-3, 5-14 & 18-21 is found to be obvious over the combined teachings of Kim and Oshitari with claims 4 & 16-17 being found obvious further in view of Fujii and Theivanayagam. Thus, in view of the foregoing, claims 1-14 & 16-21 stand rejected.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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