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 .
The amendment filed 2/18/26 has been considered and entered. Claims 1-10 remain in the application for prosecution thereof.
Considering the amendment filed 2/18/26, the 35 USC 102 and 103 rejections have been withdrawn, however, the following rejections have been necessitated by the amendment.
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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-3 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056.
EP 3343679 teaches a carbonaceous material for sodium ion secondary battery negative electrode whereby the negative electrode includes a natural carbon material and a binder applied to a negative electrode collector whereby the thickness in 10 microns (abstract, [0008]-[0011,[0032]).
EP 3343679 fails to teach the claimed thickness of the carbon layer to be 9.2 microns or less.
CN 2014050056 teaches a pole piece whereby an anode active slurry is applied to a coating thickness of 5-20 microns [0007] or 4 microns [0012].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified EP 3343679 anode layer to have a thickness of 9.2 microns or less as evidenced by CN 2014050056 with the expectation of similar success.
Regarding claim 2, EP 3343679 teaches condition (1) a natural carbon [0011], condition (4) a thickness of 1-7 microns [0032] and conditions (2) and (3) of 90% mass ratio [0032]. CN 2014050056 teaches 5-20 microns which meets the limitation of less than 9.2 microns.
Regarding claim 3, EP 3343679 teaches condition (6) a metal plate or carbon collector [0032].
Regarding claim 7, EP 3343679 teaches the polymer binder to include carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) [0032].
Regarding claims 8 and 10, EP 3343679 teaches and electrochemical apparatus or electronic device (battery) which includes a positive electrode sheet, a negative electrode sheet and an electrolyte solution [0032]-[0036].
Regarding claim 9, EP 3343679 teaches a positive electrode sheet comprising a positive electrode current collector and positive electrode active material on the current collector including a sodium transition metal oxide [0034]-[0035].
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 in combination with CN 108336301.
Features detailed above concerning the teachings of EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056are incorporated here.
EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 fails to teach the negative electrode sheet to include a sodium metal layer thereon.
CN 108336301 teaches a high performance negative electrode for sodium ion battery whereby a negative electrode material is coated with a layer of metal sodium by PVD (abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 negative electrode material to include a layer of metal sodium thereon as evidenced by CN 108336301 with the expectation of reducing loss of sodium ions as well as Kulun efficiency is improved.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 in combination with CN 110100331.
Features detailed above concerning the teachings of EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 are incorporated here.
EP 3343679 fails to teach the carbon material to have an oxygen-containing group selected from carboxyl group, hydroxyl group and ether groups.
CN 110100331 teaches the carbon material for battery anodes includes oxygen containing functional groups (abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed inventio to have modified EP 3343679 in combination with CN 2014050056 negative anode battery to include oxygen or carboxyl groups as evidenced by CN 110100331 with the advantages of providing long cycling performance.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-10 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.
Applicant argued EP 3343679 teaches claimed thickness of 10 microns but not the newly claimed thickness of 9.2 or less.
CN 2014050056 teaches this as detailed above.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/BRIAN K TALBOT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712