DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-4 and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata (US-20100297497-A1, disclosed in IDS provided on 22 January 2024) in view of Minoru (JP-2012156109-A, disclosed in IDS provided on 22 January 2024, machine translation used for rejection below).
As to claim 1, Takahata discloses an electrode (figure 1, electrode 30), comprising:
a core (figure 1, current collector 32);
a mixture layer provided on the core (figure 1, active material layer 35); and
a conductive intermediate layer provided between the core and the mixture layer (figure 1, barrier layer 33), wherein
the mixture layer includes an active material [0034] and a first binder [0040],
the intermediate layer includes a conductive agent (figure 1, conductive material 330) and a second binder [0044],
the conductive agent has particle size distribution including: a first peak of a particle diameter within a range of greater than or equal to 0.005 µm and less than or equal to 0.07 µm (first conductive particle 331, [0047]10-200nm, which is 0.01-0.2 micrometer); and a second peak of a particle diameter within a range of greater than or equal to 0.5 µm and less than or equal to 10 µm (second conductive particle 332, [0047] whichdiscloses 30-nm-10micrometer), and
wherein the second binder has a composition differing from that of the first binder ([0040] and [0044]).
However, Takahata does not disclose wherein a content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent, or that the second binder contains a thermoplastic resin having a melting point of greater than or equal to 100ºC and less than or equal to 200ºC as a main component.
However, the second binder used within Takahata is a homopolymer of vinylidene fluoride [0044] which is the same binder used for the second binder in the present application as described within paragraph [0032] and it has been held that regarding composition claims, if the composition is the same, it must have the same properties (see MPEP § 2112.01, II.). As such, the second binder used within Takahata is understood to also be a thermoplastic resin having a melting point of greater than or equal to 100ºC and less than or equal to 200ºC as a main component.
Minoru discloses a lithium-ion battery having multiple coating layers disposed on a current collector, wherein in a base layer, a content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent (page 6 lines 12-15) to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to include that the content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector as disclosed within Minoru.
As to claim 2, Takahata discloses an electrode (figure 1, electrode 30), comprising:
a core (figure 1, current collector 32);
a mixture layer provided on the core (figure 1, active material layer 35); and
a conductive intermediate layer provided between the core and the mixture layer (figure 1, barrier layer 33), wherein
the mixture layer includes an active material [0034] and a first binder [0040],
the intermediate layer includes a conductive agent (figure 1, conductive material 330) and a second binder [0044],
the conductive agent includes: first particles (first conductive particle 331) having a particle diameter of greater than or equal to 0.005 µm and less than or equal to 0.07 µm [0047] and forming an aggregation structure having a form like a string of beads (figure 1, first conductive particles 331); and second particles (second conductive particle 332) having a particle diameter greater than or equal to 0.5 µm and less than or equal to 10 µm [0047], and
wherein the second binder has a composition differing from that of the first binder ([0040] and [0044]).
However, Takahata does not disclose wherein a content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent, or that the second binder contains a thermoplastic resin having a melting point of greater than or equal to 100ºC and less than or equal to 200ºC as a main component.
However, the second binder used within Takahata is a homopolymer of vinylidene fluoride [0044] which is the same binder used for the second binder in the present application as described within paragraph [0032] and it has been held that regarding composition claims, if the composition is the same, it must have the same properties (see MPEP § 2112.01, II.). As such, the second binder used within Takahata is understood to also be a thermoplastic resin having a melting point of greater than or equal to 100ºC and less than or equal to 200ºC as a main component.
Minoru discloses a lithium-ion battery having multiple coating layers disposed on a current collector, wherein in a base layer, a content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent (page 6 lines 12-15) to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to include that the content of first particles to which the first peak is assigned is greater than or equal to 1 mass% and less than or equal to 40 mass% based on a mass of the conductive agent to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector as disclosed within Minoru.
As to claim 3, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 2, however, Takahata does not wherein a content of the second particle is greater than or equal to 60 mass% and less than or equal to 99 mass% based on the mass of the conductive agent.
Minoru discloses a lithium-ion battery having multiple coating layers disposed on a current collector, wherein, in a base layer, a content of the second particle is greater than or equal to 60 mass% and less than or equal to 99 mass% based on the mass of the conductive agent (page 6 lines 12-15) to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to additionally include that the content of the second particle is greater than or equal to 60 mass% and less than or equal to 99 mass% based on the mass of the conductive agent to reduce film resistance and contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector as disclosed within Minoru.
As to claim 4, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, however, Takahata does not disclose wherein a content of the conductive agent is greater than or equal to 50 mass% and less than or equal to 90 mass% based on a mass of the intermediate layer.
Minoru discloses a lithium-ion battery having multiple coating layers disposed on a current collector, wherein a content of the conductive agent is greater than or equal to 50 mass% and less than or equal to 90 mass% based on a mass of the intermediate layer (page 6 lines 6-10) to reduce the contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to additionally include that a content of the conductive agent is greater than or equal to 50 mass% and less than or equal to 90 mass% based on a mass of the intermediate layer to reduce the contact resistance of the layer when disposed on a current collector as disclosed within Minoru.
As to claim 6, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, and further discloses wherein the conductive agent is a carbon material [0046], and the thermoplastic resin is a homopolymer or copolymer of vinylidene fluoride [0044].
As to claim 7, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, and further discloses wherein the second binder is locally present around the first particles in the intermediate layer [0052].
As to claim 8, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, and further discloses wherein the conductive agent includes particles having a particle diameter of greater than or equal to 0.5 µm and less than or equal to 10 µm (second conductive particles 332, [0047]). However, Takahata does not disclose wherein the conductive agent includes particles having an average aspect ratio of greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 40.
Minoru discloses a lithium-ion battery having multiple coating layers disposed on a current collector, wherein the conductive agent includes particles having an average aspect ratio of greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 40 (page 4 lines 23-37) to reduce the resistance value of the layer when disposed on a current collector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to additionally include that the conductive agent includes particles having an average aspect ratio of greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 40 to lower the reduce the resistance value of the layer when disposed on a current collector as disclosed within Minoru.
As to claim 9, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, and further discloses wherein the mixture layer includes a conductive agent (figure 1, conductive material 352) having a particle diameter of greater than or equal to 0.005 µm and less than or equal to 0.07 µm [0039] and forming an aggregation structure having a form like a string of beads (figure 1, conductive material 352).
As to claim 10, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, and further discloses wherein the electrode is a positive electrode [0009] for a secondary battery [0009].
4. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata (US-20100297497-A1, disclosed in IDS provided on 22 January 2024) in view of Minoru (JP-2012156109-A, disclosed in IDS provided on 22 January 2024, machine translation used for rejection below) as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Yamada (US-20110111295-A1).
As to claim 5, modified Takahata discloses the electrode as disclosed within claim 1, but does not disclose wherein when the first binder is a fibrous binder and wherein the mixture layer is trisected in a thickness direction into a first region, a second region, and a third region from a side of the core, a content (a) of the fibrous binder in the first region, a content (b) of the fibrous binder in the second region, and a content (c) of the fibrous binder in the third region satisfy (c-a)/(a+b+c) ≤ ±10%.
Yamada discloses an electrode within a lithium secondary battery, wherein the binder is a fibrous binder [0027] and when mixture layer used to create the electrode is trisected in a thickness direction into a first region, a second region, and a third region from a side of the core, a content (a) of the fibrous binder in the first region, a content (b) of the fibrous binder in the second region, and a content (c) of the fibrous binder in the third region satisfy (c-a)/(a+b+c) ≤ ±10% [0076] such that the properties of the materials are fully and stably obtained for a long period.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the electrode as disclosed within Takahata to additionally include that when the mixture layer used to create the electrode is trisected in a thickness direction into a first region, a second region, and a third region from a side of the core, a content (a) of the fibrous binder in the first region, a content (b) of the fibrous binder in the second region, and a content (c) of the fibrous binder in the third region satisfy (c-a)/(a+b+c) ≤ ±10% such that the binder is uniformly distributed within the layer such that the properties of the materials are fully and stably obtained for a long period as disclosed within Yamada.
Conclusion
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/J.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1727
/Maria Laios/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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