DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-10 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al (CN 110875476 A; machine translation).
Regarding Claim 1,
Chen teaches a negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery that comprises of a current collector, a carbonaceous layer in contact with the current collector, lithium alloy strips in contact with the carbonaceous layer (Paragraph 0008). The current collector can be copper foil (Paragraph 0020). The carbonaceous layer contains carbon materials (Paragraph 0021), and binder such as polytetrafluroethylene (Paragraph 0022; polymer). The thickness of the carbonaceous layer is 0.5-5 µm. This thickness range lies within the claimed range.
Regarding Claim 2,
Chen teaches that the carbon material in the carbonaceous layer contains atleast one of carbon black, graphite, acetylene black, Ketjen black, activated carbon, graphene, carbon nanotubes (Paragraph 0021). Examiner has addressed the first clause of the claimed limitations because only one of them needs to be met per the claim phraseology (“satisfies atleast one of the following conditions”).
Regarding Claim 3,
Chen teaches that the carbonaceous layer contains tetrahydrofuran (Paragraph 0022). Tetrahydrofuran is a type of ether and hence, anticipates the claim regarding carbon material comprises oxygen containing group (i.e. ether group).
Regarding Claim 4,
Chen teaches that the lithium metal alloy is composed of metallic lithium and other element such as indium, zinc, silver (Paragraph 0019).
Regarding Claim 6,
Chen teaches that the carbonaceous layer comprises binders, and adhesives such as polytetrafluroethylene, styrene butadiene rubber, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Paragraph 0022).
Regarding Claim 7,
Chen teaches a lithium secondary battery that includes the negative electrode, a positive electrode, an electrolyte, a separator and a casing (Paragraph 0024).
Regarding Claim 8,
Chen teaches Lithium salts that are added to the electrolyte (Paragraph 0028), and in Example 1, Chen uses LiPF6 as the lithium salt in the electrolyte (Paragraph 0037).
Regarding Claim 10,
Chen teaches the lithium secondary battery comprising the claimed negative electrode, and further states that the motivation of the research is the use of batteries in electronic products such as smartphones, tablets, and electric vehicles (Paragraph 0004).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al.
Chen teaches that the lithium metal alloy contains element other than lithium within 1-20% of the total mass of the lithium (Paragraph 0019). This range overlaps the claimed range of 1 to 10%. Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the claimed range within the electrode of Chen in order to form a negative electrode that effectively inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites, and improves electrochemical performance (Paragraph 0011).
Claims 3, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen in view of Lai et al (CN 110010852A; machine translation).
Regarding Claim 3,
While Claim 3 is rejected in previous section under 35 USC 102 for the first clause of the limitations, in this section it is alternatively and additionally rejected for the second clause of the limitations.
Chen teaches the use of tetrahydrofuran in the carbonaceous layer, but does not teach about the carbon material comprises an oxygen-containing group wherein a mass percentage of oxygen atoms in the carbon material is ≥ 0.1%.
However, Lai teaches a lithium metal anode comprising a heteroatomic doped carbon layer on the current collector (Paragraph 0009). This heteroatomic doped carbon layer comprises oxygen atoms (Paragraph 0010) and the doping amount is 0.1% to 4 atom % (Paragraph 0023). This range overlaps with the claimed range. Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the range of Lai to provide a carbon material that is oxygen-containing in order to improve the wettability of porous carbon with organic electrolyte and lithium metal, and enhance cycle stability (Paragraph 0023).
Regarding Claim 9,
Chen does not specifically teach the addition of additives as claimed in the electrolyte.
However, Lai teaches the presence of 1% wt of LiNO3 (lithium nitrate) in the electrolyte (Paragraph 0064). Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use such an additive in the electrolyte in order to improve the cycle stability of the anode, and the stability under high current density (Paragraph 0012).
References of Interest
Utsugi et al (WO 03073535A1)
Han et al (US 20200365892 A1)
Chae et al (US 11973219 B2)
Conclusion
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/SUHANI JITENDRA PATEL/Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783