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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on June 12, 2023 and June 30, 2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 and 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Pre-Grant Publication 2016/0285103, hereinafter Shitaba, and further in view of U.S Pre-Grant Publication 2021/0336269, hereinafter Sugimoto.
Regarding claim 1, Shitaba teaches a lithium-ion secondary battery 100 with a positive electrode 20 and a positive electrode active material layer 24 disposed on the positive electrode current collector 22 (Shitaba, [0036]). The positive active material includes a lithium nickel complex oxide and a phosphate compound (Shitaba, [0038]). The lithium nickel complex oxide is defined by formula (1), where M includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Co, Fe, Ti, Cr, Mg, Al, Cu, Ga, Mn, Zn, Sn, B, V, Ca, and Sr ([0009]). This list includes the species claimed where Al and one or both of Ca, and Sr and therefore reads on the instant claimed invention.
The claimed content ratio where the amount of Ni in the lithium transition metal composite oxide is greater than or equal to 75 mol% with respect to the total amount of metal elements excluding Li is also covered by formula (1) (Shitaba, [0040]). LixNiy-1MyO2 where M can include Al and Sr/Ca resulting in for example LixNiy-1AlySryCayO2 have a mol% of 75 when y equals 0.143 and 0.1, respectively. LixNiy-1AlySryO2 and LixNiy-1AlySryCayO2 have a mol% of 99 when y equals 0.005 and 0.00335, respectively. This demonstrates an overlap in ranges taught. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Additionally, Shitaba teaches: ‘In the positive electrode active material, the ratio of the phosphate compound to a total mass of the positive electrode active material for lithium-ion secondary battery may be 1 mass % to 40 mass %’ (Shitaba, [0023]). This overlaps with the claimed phosphate mass ratio of greater than or equal to 0.1 parts by mass and less than or equal to 5 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of a content of the positive electrode active material. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
However, Shitaba fails to teach the lithium transition metal composite oxide having a layered halite structure.
Sugimoto teaches an all-solid-state secondary battery that includes a cathode layer that contains a cathode active material layer. The cathode active material layer is a lithium nickel aluminum oxide with a lithium phosphate. This cathode active material layer has a layered halite structure ([0043]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a lithium transition metal composite oxide having a layered halite structure because ‘when the cathode active material includes a layered halite structure, the energy density and thermal stability of the all-solid-state secondary battery 10 may be enhanced.’ (Sugimoto, [0043]).
Regarding claim 3, Shitaba and Sugimoto teach the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. Additionally, Shitaba teaches primary and secondary particles that have Ca and Sr present on the surface of each other (Shitaba, Fig 2, [0020]). For example, the left most particle in Fig 2 is considered the primary particle and the secondary particle is considered the cluster of particles. All particles may contain both Ca and Sr in their lithium nickel complex oxide 110.
Regarding claim 4, Shitaba and Sugimoto teach the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. Additionally, Shitaba teaches formula (1) that covers a content ratio of Ca in the lithium transition metal composite oxide that is less than or equal to 1.0 mol% with respect to the total amount of metal elements excluding Li (Shitaba, [0040]). LixNiy-1AlyCayO2 and LixNiy-1AlySryCayO2 have a mol% of 1 when y equals 0.101 and 0.0102, respectively. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding claim 5, Shitaba and Sugimoto teach the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. Additionally, Shitaba teaches formula (1) that encapsulates a content ratio of Sr in the lithium transition metal composite oxide that is less than or equal to 0.3 mol% with respect to the total amount of metal elements excluding Li (Shitaba, [0040]). LixNiy-1AlySryO2 and LixNiy-1AlySryCayO2 have a mol% of 1 when y equals 0.003 and 0.003, respectively. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding claim 6, Shitaba and Sugimoto teach the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. Additionally, Shitaba teaches formula (1) that covers the claimed general formula of claim 6 which is summarized in the table below. For the general formula LiaNixAlyCozM1wM2vO2-b:
Variable
Claim
Reference
a
0.8 ≤ a ≤ 1.2
0.5 ≤ a ≤ 1.2
x
0.75 ≤ x ≤ 0.95
0.95 ≤ x ≤ 1
y
0 < y ≤ 0.10
0 ≤ y ≤ 0.5
z
0 ≤ z ≤ 0.05
0 ≤ z ≤ 0.5
w
0 ≤ w ≤ 0.20
0 ≤ w ≤ 0.5
v
0 < v ≤ 0.013
0 ≤ v ≤ 0.5
b
0 ≤ b < 0.05
b = 0
where M1 is at least one or more elements selected from Mn, Zr, W, Mo, Ti and Nb, and M2 is at least one of Ca or Sr. The claim also states x + y + z + w = 1; an example of this covered by the reference is Li1Ni0.95Al0.0167Co0.0167Mn0.0167. From the above analysis it is clear the art teaches overlapping ranges and compositions. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding claim 7, Shitaba and Sugimoto teach the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. Additionally, Shitaba teaches a positive electrode 20, a negative electrode 30, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution including lithium salt in the lithium-ion secondary battery 100 (Shitaba, [0094]).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shitaba and Sugimoto as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Publication 11,302,962 B2, hereinafter Umeyama.
Regarding claim 2, Shitaba and Sugimoto teaches the positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1. However, Shitaba and Sugimoto fail to teach an average particle size of the lithium phosphate in the positive electrode mixture layer.
Specifying the average particle size of the lithium phosphate in the positive electrode mixture layer is considered well-known in the art. Umeyama teaches a positive electrode composite material layer including a first positive electrode active material particle, a second positive electrode active material particle, a conductive material, and a binder onto the surface of the positive electrode collector core material. The first positive electrode active material particle includes lithium iron phosphate and the secondary positive electrode active material particle includes lithium-nickel composite oxide (Umeyama, Col: 6 L: 42-51). The average particle size of the lithium phosphate is 0.5 µm or more and in view of productivity, the upper limit is, for example, approximately 10 µm, and preferably approximately 5 µm (Umeyama, Col: 8 L: 6-16). This range lies within the claimed range of having a particle size of greater than or equal to 0.1 µm and less than or equal to 20 µm, therefore the range taught be Umeyama reads of the claimed range.
Therefore, it would have been considered obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the claimed average particle size of the lithium phosphate because ‘when the average particle size is less than 0.5 µm, the compressibility of positive electrode composite material layer 10b decreases and a problem such as positive electrode plate 10 being cut at the time of winding may occur. An upper limit of the average particle size is not particularly limited’ (Umeyama, Col: 8 L: 6-16). Making it obvious to optimize the particle size of the lithium phosphate in the claimed invention and come to the range in claim 2.
Conclusion
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/M.K.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1724
/MIRIAM STAGG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1724