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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuzuki et al. WO 2019/187537 A1 (US 2021/0013496 A1 is used as an English equivalent) in view of Kim et al. (KR 20180125312A).
As to claims 1, 5 and 6, Tsuzuki et al. discloses A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a positive electrode (11), a negative electrode (12) and a electrolyte [0012], comprising:
a negative electrode core (40-negative electrode collector); and
a negative electrode mixture layer (41) formed on the negative electrode core ([0022], figure 1), wherein the negative electrode mixture layer includes graphite [0023] particles and silicon based active material (applies to claim 5) as a negative electrode active material, and has a lower layer (42-first layer) formed on a side of the negative electrode core (40) and an upper layer (43-second layer) formed on a surface side of the negative electrode mixture layer [0023] (figure 1),
a ratio of a fracture strength of the first graphite particles ([0054]-5.7 compressive strength) to a fracture strength of the second graphite particles (0052], 2.1 compressive strength) is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 5 (thus the ratio is 5.7 / 2.1 = 2.71), and
a content rate of the first graphite particles to the graphite particles in the upper layer is greater than or equal to 30 mass% (97%-[0054]), and is higher than a content rate of the first graphite particles to the graphite particles in the lower layer (zero for the lower layer) [0052].
Tsuzuki et al. does not disclose the graphite particles include first graphite particles (upper layer) having a circularity of less than 0.92 and second graphite particles (lower layer) having a circularity higher than that of the first graphite particles.
Kim et al. discloses a lithium battery having a double active material layers (title). The negative active layer is made of a double layer where the upper active material layer comprises graphite particles having a degree of sphericity of 0.91 or less and the lower active material layer comprises graphite particles having a sphericity degree of more than 0.91 [0010]. Kim discloses provides a negative electrode having a high rate of lithium ion diffusion from the surface of the electrode to the inside by increasing the diffusion rate of lithium ions in the gap in the electrode active material layer [0007].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was effectively filed to have the circularity/sphericity of the lower layer to be higher than the upper layer because this would allow for an increasing of the diffusion rate.
As to claim 2. (Original) The negative electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer includes the second graphite particles as a main component [0052] (graphite is the 2.1 MPa strength, with 88% of the mass ratio of the layer).
As to claim 3. (Currently Amended) The negative electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the content rate of the first graphite particles to the graphite particles in the upper layer is greater than or equal to 50 mass% and less than or equal to 100 mass% [0054] (97%).
As to claim 4. (Currently Amended) The negative electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the upper layer is greater than or equal to 10% and less than or equal to 60% of a thickness of the negative electrode mixture layer [0026] (30-50%) thus being encompassed by the claimed range.
Conclusion
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/Maria Laios/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727