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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Election/Restrictions
1. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-5, 8-9, 12, 14-18, 20, 22, 24, & 27-30, in the reply filed on 02/18/2026 is acknowledged.
*Upon careful reviewed of claim 30, this claim should had been restricted out into a separate Group because the claim recites the process further comprising the step of preparing a piezoelectric generator or sensor, wherein the product produced from claim 30 is a piezoelectric generator or sensor and not a metal oxide nanosheet as in Group I. Furthermore, the process of Group I and the process of claim 30 require different process steps, which requires different/additional searches which would impose an additional burden on the office due to multiple search areas being required. For purposes of search and examination on the merits, claim 30 has been withdrawn from further consideration.
2. Claims 30-32 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention(s), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/18/2026.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
The foreign document AU2021900097 (filed on 01/18/2021) has been received and placed in this application.
Status of Application
4. This application is a 371 of PCT/AU2022/050022, which was filed on 01/18/2022.
Claims 1-5, 8-9, 12, 14-18, 20, 22, 24, & 27-32 were originally presented in this application for examination.
Claims 1-5, 8-9, 12, 14-18, 20, 22, 24, & 27-32 are currently pending in this application for examination.
Specification
5. The examiner has not checked the specification to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors (grammatical, typographical, and idiomatic). Cooperation of the applicant(s) is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant(s) may become aware of in the specification, in the claims and in any further amendment(s) that applicant(s) may file.
Applicant(s) is also requested to complete the status of the copending applications referred to in the specification by their Attorney Docket Number or Application Serial Number, if any.
The status of the parent application(s) and/or any other application(s) cross-referenced to this application, if any, should be updated in a timely manner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 8, 18, 22, 24, & 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 105839189 B (TECHNICAL INST PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY CAS) (Translation), hereinafter “CN ‘189” taken together with Zavabeti et al. (“A liquid metal reaction environment for the room-temperature synthesis of atomically thin metal oxides”, Science 358, p. 332-335 (2017)).
The claimed invention relates to a process for preparing a metal oxide nanosheet, comprising the steps of:
a) heating a metal that is provided on a supporting substrate to a temperature effective to melt the metal to generate a liquid metal film on the supporting substrate,
b) contacting the liquid metal film with an oxygen atmosphere to generate a metal oxide surface layer on the liquid metal film, and
c) contacting the metal oxide surface layer with a target substrate, and exfoliating the metal oxide surface layer from the supporting substrate to form a metal oxide nanosheet layer on the target substrate (as recited in the instant claim 1).
CN ‘189 broadly discloses a method for making a two-dimensional atomic layer thickness ZnO single-crystal nanosheet by thermal evaporation, the method includes the steps of:
(1) placing the zinc powder and a substrate into a tube furnace;
(2) staring a mechanical pump, performing vacuum pumping on the tube furnace, and filling the tube furnace with compressed air;
(3) setting the temperature raising procedure, carrying out reaction, and then performing natural cooling; and
(4) taking out a sample to obtain a ZnO nanosheet with atomic layer thickness growing on the substrate (see Abstract).
Regarding claim 1, step a), CN ‘189 specifically teaches to (1) weigh the zinc powder into a ceramic boat, and then place it in the heating zone of the tube furnace, (2) place the substrate molybdenum mesh directly above the zinc powder (Example 1), meeting the claimed limitation.
Regarding claim 1, step b), claim 2, & claim 3, CN ‘189 teaches prior to heating, the furnace is filled with compressed (pressurized) air (p. 3 of translation). The compressed air is passed into the tube furnace and the pressure is controlled (Example 1). The tube furnace is heated up, and the tube furnace is naturally cooled after the reaction is completed (p. 3 of translation). The heating zone of the tube furnace is raised to 650oC (Example 1). It is considered heating zinc at 650oC is beyond its melting point of about 419oC and will be in a liquid state. CN ‘189 teaches after reaction of the heated zinc with air was completed atomic layer thickness Zn nanosheets were grown on the substrate (Example 1).
CN ‘189 teaches the claimed process for preparing a metal oxide nanosheet comprising steps a) and b) of the instant claim 1, however it does not teach step (c), which is “contacting the metal oxide surface layer with a target substrate, exfoliating the metal oxide surface layer from the supporting substrate to form a metal oxide nanosheet layer on the target substrate”.
Zavabeti et al., is in the field of nanosheets production and discloses a van der Waals exfoliation technique, wherein a liquid metal droplet is touched with a solid substrate. The liquid nature of the metal results in the absence of macroscopic forces between the metal and its oxide skin, allowing clean delamination. The technique is suitable for producing high quality thin oxide sheets on substrates. The metal oxides nanosheets produced by this method are HfO2 (0.6 nm 2D oxide sheets), Al2O3 (1.1 nm 2D oxide sheets) and Gd2O3 (2.8 nm 2D oxide sheets) are exfoliated onto a substrate (pages 332-335). Fig. 1C on page 332 of the reference shows a schematic of the van der Waals exfoliation technique. The pristine liquid metal droplet is first exposed to an oxygen-containing environment. Touching the liquid metal with a suitable substrate allows transferring the interfacial oxide layer.
It would have been prima facie obvious to a person skilled in the art (before the effective filing date of the claimed invention) to incorporate the van der Waals exfoliation technique as taught by Zavabeti et al. to affect the exfoliation of the metal oxide surface layer of ZnO on the substrate to form a metal oxide nanosheet layer on the substrate having uniform and dispersed particles in CN ‘189 because it is known in Zavabeti et al. to use the van der Waals exfoliation technique to produce metal oxide nanosheets as in CN ‘189.
Regarding claim 3, the air flow and pressure are mechanically controlled in the process
of CN ‘189 (see Examples).
Regarding claim 5, CN ‘189 teaches heating the substrate with zinc powder in the heating zone of the tube furnace at 650oC (Example 1), meeting the instantly claimed temperature of between about 200oC to about 700oC.
Regarding claim 8, CN ‘189 teaches the substrate is selected from the group consisting of a metal mesh, a silicon wafer, a ceramic wafer, a quartz wafer, or a sapphire wafer (see claim 3 on last page of translation), which includes quartz and silicon of the instant claim.
Regarding claim 18, it is considered the liquid metal film is formed as a portion of a liquid metal droplet comprising the metal oxide surface layer in CN ‘189 in view of the same process disclosed and claimed.
Regarding claim 22, the disclosed ZnO single crystal nanosheet has a thickness of 0.5 nm to 2 nm (p. 3 of translation under “Summary of Invention”), which encompass the instant claimed range of “between 0.1 nm to about 100 nm”.
Regarding claim 24, CN ‘189 teaches to produce zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets (see Abstract and Examples).
Regarding claim 29, the claim feature on “delaminating of the metal oxide nanosheet from the target substrate to obtain a discrete metal oxide nanosheet” is taught by the reference in view of the van der Waals exfoliation technique taught by Zavabeti et al. (see pages 332-335).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 4, 9, 12, 14-17, 20, & 27-28 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art discloses the claimed process for preparing metal oxide nanosheets comprising steps (a), (b), and (c), as recited in the instant claim 1, however they do not disclose the claimed features as further defined in these claims.
-the controlled oxygen environment has an oxygen concentration of between about 0.1 vol. % to about 10 vol. %” (as defined in claim 4).
- after step b) and prior to step c), the metal oxide surface layer is removed from the liquid metal film to expose fresh liquid metal film to the oxygen atmosphere to form a regenerated metal oxide surface layer (as defined in claim 9).
- prior to contacting with the metal oxide surface layer, the target substrate is heated to a temperature between about 200°C to about 700°C to enhance adhesion to the metal oxide surface layer (as defined in claim 12).
-the metal oxide surface layer is contacted with a target substrate for a period of time of between about 0.1 second to about 60 seconds prior to exfoliating the metal oxide surface layer from the supporting substrate (as defined in claim 14).
-the target substrate comprises an inorganic oxide selected from the group consisting of alumina, silica, ceria, zirconia, and titania (as defined in claim 15).
-exfoliating the metal oxide surface layer from the supporting substrate exposes fresh liquid metal film to the oxygen atmosphere to form a regenerated metal oxide surface layer (as defined in claims 16 & 17).
-the target substrate is contacted with the metal oxide surface layer at an angle of contact of between about 20° to about 70° with reference to supporting substrate (as defined in claim 20).
-the zinc oxide nanosheet is characterized by an X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) pattern comprising one or more principal peaks located at about 34.4, 36.3, and 47.5 degrees 2θ (as defined in claim 27).
-the zinc oxide nanosheet has a piezoelectric coefficient d33 of between 20 pm/V to about 120 pm/V (as defined in claim 28).
There would be no motivation to combine the teachings of the prior art references together to arrive to the claimed invention.
Citations
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared.
US 10,720,642 (Method for exfoliation of transition metal oxide)
US 2021/0230753 (Method for production of metal oxide nanosheets)
US 2023/0287586 ((Method for production of metal oxide nanosheets)
US 2024/0254633 (Method for production of metal oxide nanosheets)
US 2024/0332017 (Alloyed oxide film produced from liquid metal)
Conclusion
9. Claims 1-5, 8-9, 12, 14-18, 20, 22, 24, & 27-32 are pending. Claims 1-3, 5, 8, 18, 22, 24, & 29 are rejected. Claims 4, 9, 12, 14-17, 20, & 27-28 are objected. Claims 30-32 are withdrawn. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
June 04, 2026
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