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 August 03, 2023 and April 11, 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 1-8 and 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0013811, hereinafter Song.
Regarding claims 1, 3, 7, and 8, Song teaches an electrolyte for a lithium secondary battery that consists of a lithium salt and an organic solvent mixture made of four solvents [0012]. The first solvent contains fluorine and a sulfur, the second solvent contains a linear carbonate-based compound containing fluorine (reads on claimed second solvent), the third solvent contains a linear ester-based compound containing fluorine (reads on claimed third solvent), and the fourth solvent contains a cyclic carbonate-based compound (reads on claimed first solvent) (Abstract).
However, Song fails to explicitly teach the carbonate and acetate solvent having a weight ratio of 1:0.6 to 1:1 (instant claim 1 and 8) and a combined weight percent of 3.0 wt% to 30.0 wt% (instant claim 1), the carbonate solvent being 2.0 wt% to 20 wt% (instant claim 3), the acetate solvent being 1.0 wt% to 18.0 wt% (instant claim 7).
Song teaches the second carbonate solvent being 80 vol% or less, the third acetate solvent being 60 vol% or less [0050]. These solvent amounts can be ‘adjusted appropriately to effectively prevent the degradation of lithium secondary batteries while securing a satisfactory flame-retardant or nonflammable level’ [0049]. Therefore, the volume percent of each solvent is an art recognized result effective variable.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have optimized the volume percents of the solvents within the non-aqueous electrolyte solution as taught by Song. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that volume percent and weight percent are directly related because they both represent concentrations of a solute in a solvent wherein volume percent is a function of weight. In optimizing these volume percents, one would arrive at the claimed relationship of ratios and weight percents, barring evidence to criticality or unexpected results. MPEP 2144.05
Regarding claim 2, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 1 and that the second linear carbonate-based compound containing fluorine most preferably comprises of 2,2,2-trifluoroethylmethyl carbonate or bis(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl) carbonate [0062].
Regarding claim 4, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 1 and that the third linear ester-based compound containing fluorine is represented by Chemical Formula 3 where the R groups are independently methyl or methyl fluoride and m and n are independently an integer in a range of 0-5 [0063-0065]. This has the same structure as the claimed Formula 1 when, for Song’s Chemical Formula 3, R1 is methyl fluoride, m is 0, n is 1 and R2 is methyl.
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 1 and that the third linear ester-based compound containing fluorine can be 2,2-difluoroacetate [0065].
Regarding claim 13, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 1 for a lithium secondary battery. This lithium secondary battery contains an anode and cathode and their respective active materials and a separator therebetween [0071].
Regarding claims 14 and 15, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 13 and the fourth cyclic carbonate-based compound being represented by Chemical Formula 4 where the X groups are each independently hydrogen, fluorine, C1-C6 alkyl, or C1-C6 alkyl fluoride [0038]. This overlaps with the claimed cyclic carbonate containing at least one of ethylene carbonate or propylene carbonate.
Regarding claim 16, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 14 and that the fourth solvent amount can be within the range of 10 vol % to 40 vol % or less, which overlaps with overlaps with the claimed range of 10 vol% to 70 vol% of the cyclic carbonate-based organic solvent. [0050]. In the case where the claimed ranged “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding claim 17, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 13 and the cathode active material can be LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2 which overlaps with the first lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt based oxide listed (Claim 17, line 3).
Regarding claim 18, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 13 and an anode active material that may consist of a graphite composite containing silicon [0078], which corresponds with the claimed negative electrode active material containing carbon and silicon.
Claims 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0013811, hereinafter Song, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0200051 (IDS dated 08/03/2023), hereinafter Lee.
Regarding claims 9-12, Song teaches the electrolyte solution of claim 1 and provides the option of flame-retardant additives.
However, Song fails to teach the additive is specifically 1,4-dicyano-2-butene (DCB) (reads on instant claims 9-11).
Lee teaches a non-aqueous electrolyte solution for a lithium secondary battery that includes a lithium salt, an organic solvent, and an additive, wherein the additive includes 1,4-dicyano-2-butene (Abstract) (instant claims 9, 10 and 11). Lee teaches that the DCB may be included in an amount of 0.5 wt% to 3 wt% based on the total weight of the non-aqueous electrolyte solution [0062] which overlaps with the claimed range of 0.1 wt% to 4.0 wt% (reads on instant claim 12). In the case where the claimed ranged “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a Prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the additive of Lee in the electrolyte solution of Song because the additive will form ‘a stable film on the surface of the positive electrode to obtain a high effect of suppressing metal ion dissolution from the positive electrode and to suppress gas generation that may occur during side reactions’ [0063].
Conclusion
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/M.K.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1724
/MIRIAM STAGG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1724