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 1-16 are pending.
Claims 1-6 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-6 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/1/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 7-16 in the reply filed on 6/1/2026 is acknowledged.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because Lines 16-21 of the abstract recite similar benefits as in Lines 1-8. Examiner suggests removing redundant statements related to benefits of invention. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: Figure 14 and Figure 15 show Sample names that are not consistent with the names included in the specification such as Example 1, Example 2, Comparative example 1 etc. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “are ranged from” needs to be changed to “range from”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the 01s peaks” could be changed to “01s peaks”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: the term “the nitrogen element” needs to be changed to “nitrogen element”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities: the term “diameters” needs to be changed to “diameter”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 7-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gong et al (CN 113353911A; machine translation).
Regarding Claim 7, and Claim 16,
Gong teaches a secondary battery anode material (silicon based negative electrode material; Paragraph 0017) comprising a coffee ground composition (porous carbon material in the electrode material is made using inexpensive biomass as raw material, such as coffee grounds; Paragraph 0008, 0014). Gong teaches that the silicon-based negative electrode is prepared by mixing porous carbon material, graphite, nano-silicon material, conductive carbon fiber, and binder; ball milling in an inert atmosphere, ultrasonically dispersing until uniform (Paragraph 0017). This process is similar to the one in the instant invention wherein nano-silicon, coffee grounds, natural graphite etc are mixed and dispersed in ultrapure distilled water (Paragraph 0065). Due to the overlap in processing steps and the materials of the electrode composition, it is evident that the nano-silicon is inserted into the porous carbon derived from coffee grounds. The beneficial effects of the invention of Gong also support that the nano-silicon is inserted into the porous carbon because the microporous structure provides sufficient buffer space for the volume expansion of the silicon material (Paragraph 0030).
Gong teaches other aspects which are similar to the instant invention. Gong teaches that the carbon material from biomass/coffee grounds has a particle size of 5 to 20 um (Paragraph 0010). This particle size range overlaps with the claimed range of coffee ground composition having a particle diameter D50 of 18.15 to 29.46 um (as stated in Claim 16). Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the particle size as stated in Gong such that it overlaps with the claimed range in order to maintain good stability in the battery (Paragraph 0010).
The instant invention states that the size of the silicon particles is between 20 to 100nm. Gong teaches that the nano-silicon material has a particle size of 50-150 nm (Paragraph 0023). The instant invention suggests using nano-silicon in amounts of 0.5 to 4% based on the total weight, coffee grounds are contained in a mixing amount of 3 to 19% by weight based on a total weight, and natural graphite is contained in a mixing amount of 10 to 15% based on total weight. Similarly, Gong states a preferred ratio between nanosilicon:porous carbon:graphite being 0.2-0.4:0.2-0.3:0.3-0.4 (Paragraph 0017). Both the instant invention (Paragraph 0012) and the disclosure of Gong use hydroxide solution such as KOH, NaOH for the processing of the coffee grounds. The instant invention performs heat treatment step at 800-900 C, and Gong uses temperature of 900 C for processing the coffee grounds (Paragraph 0040). Hence, based on the similarities between the composition of the anode material, and the processing conditions, the negative electrode material of Gong would behave in a similar fashion as the material of the instant invention.
Per MPEP 2112.01, products of identical chemical composition can not have mutually exclusive properties. If the prior art teaches the identical chemical structure, the properties applicant discloses and/or claims are necessarily present. Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that Gong would have a coffee ground composition that shows two peaks at 2θ between 30 and 40 degrees, shows three peaks at 2θ between 40 and 45 degrees, and shows two peaks at 2θ between 45 and 50 degrees in XRD analysis. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to form the negative electrode material of Gong in order to provide a material that has higher cycle stability and provides sufficient buffer space for the volume expansion of the silicon material (Paragraph 0030).
Regarding Claim 8 to Claim 15,
Gong does not specifically teach the properties related to the secondary battery anode material of claim 8-15. The properties being that the anode material has an orientation peak intensity ratio (I110 / I004) of the XRD pattern of 0.44 to 0.81;
has a degree of divergence (DD) value defined by Equation 1 below of 5.96 to 8.86, [Equation 1] Degree of divergence (DD) =(la/Itotal) * 100 In Equation 1, Ia is a total value of peak intensities appearing at 20 = 42.4 ± 0.20, 43.4 + 0.20, 44.6 ± 0.20, and 77.5 ± 0.20 when measuring XRD using CuKa rays, and Itotai is a total value of peak intensities appearing at 20 = 26.5 ±0.2, 42.4+ 0.20, 43.4 0.2, 44.60.2, 54.7 ± 0.20, and 77.5 ± 0.20 when measuring XRD using the CuKC rays;
shows effective peaks due to D band and G band at around 1,350 cm-1 and 1,580 cm-1, respectively, and the intensity ratios (ID/IG) of the D band and G band are ranged from 0.41 to 0.98,
has a full width at half maximum (FWHM) value of the 01s peaks of the surface measured through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of 1.95 to 3.44;
has a content of the nitrogen element by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of 0.25 to 1.07 atomic %;
shows a first XPS effective peak, a second XPS effective peak, a third XPS effective peak, and a fourth XPS effective peak in binding energy ranges of 281.08 to 292.08 eV, 395.68 to 403.78 eV, 528.48 to 537.58 eV, and 99.08 to 108.48 eV, respectively;
has an initial charge capacity of 243.1 to 288.5 mAh/g and an initial discharge capacity of 241.3 to 287.3 mAh/g;
and has a tap density of 0.93 to 1.02 g/cm3.
Based on the similarities between the composition of the anode material, and the processing conditions for both Gong and the instant invention as elaborated in the rejection of claim 7 above, it would be obvious that the negative electrode material of Gong would be similar to the material of the instant invention.
Per MPEP 2112.01, products of identical chemical composition can not have mutually exclusive properties. If the prior art teaches the identical chemical structure, the properties applicant discloses and/or claims are necessarily present. Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that Gong would have an anode material comprising a coffee ground composition that shows or has the properties as described above. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to form the negative electrode material of Gong in order to provide a material that has higher cycle stability and provides sufficient buffer space for the volume expansion of the silicon material (Paragraph 0030).
References of Interest
Examiner notes the following references of interest pertinent to the subject of the claimed invention.
Yushin et al (US 20230079476 A1)
Lee et al (US 20190392504 A1)
Yamada et al (US 5834138 A)
Komatsu et al (US 20150188137 A1)
Takeshi et al (US 20140287306A1)
Conclusion
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/SUHANI JITENDRA PATEL/Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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