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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the wet process, as embodied in the Specification [0096-0101] in the reply filed on 3/3/2026 is acknowledged.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II claims 1-4 and 6-13 in the reply filed on 1/14/2026 is acknowledged. In view of the amendment for claim 5, it is noted that claim 5 is included in Group II. Hence, full consideration was given to claims 1-13.
Priority
Acknowledgement has been made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 USC 119 (a-d). The certified copy has been filed on 6/23/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed 5/24/2023, 11/29/2024, 10/29/2025 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings received 5/24/2023 are acceptable for examination purposes.
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 1-9, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berkel (US 2017/0005367) in view of Tsujii (US 2012/0231346).
Regarding claim 1, solid electrolyte membrane, comprising a sulfide electrolyte material and polymer particles dispersed in the sulfide electrolyte material [0070], wherein
based on a total mass of the sulfide electrolyte material and the polymer particles being 100 parts by mass, the mass of the polymer particles is 1 to 50 parts by mass [0223];
the polymer particles have a size of 1 μm to 500 μm [0248]; and
Regarding claim 1 limitation, a compacted density is greater than 95%, Berkel discloses that the inorganic solid state electrolyte is sintered or necked. As used herein, sintered means that the inorganic components are denser, more compact, or in greater contact with other inorganic components, than would be the case if the components were not sintered. Sintering of the components can be accomplished by heat treatment, pressure treatment, or both heat and pressure treatment. As used herein, necked means that the inorganic components (e.g., particles) are in contact with other inorganic components by way of, for example, fused sides or edges, bonded sides or edges, or other particle to particle contact. Necked particles can form a network through the composite electrolyte through which Li+ ions can conduct [0196]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to maximize the density of Berkel’s solid electrolyte for the benefit of increasing the contact between adjacent inorganic oxide particles, thereby increasing its ionic conductivity.
Regarding claim 1 a breaking strength is higher than 50 MPa, Berkel discloses that the electrolyte has a fracture strength of greater than 5 MPa and less than 250 MPa [0008]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the solid electrolyte of Berkel at an upper end of the fracture strength range for the benefit of avoiding fracture or puncture.
Regarding claim 1 after the polymer particles are compression-molded under conditions of 100 MPa to 500 MPa, Berkel does not use a compression-molded test, but uses a ring-on-ring test that measures equibiaxial flexural strength at ambient temperature [0074]. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to maximize the density and the breaking strength of Berkel’s solid electrolyte for the benefit of forming a mechanically robust electrolyte.
Regarding claim 6, the polymer particles have an aspect ratio within 50 [0248]. Berkel discloses that the polymer particles are spherical particles [0248].
Regarding claim 7, Berkel discloses the polymer particles are selected from one or more of polysaccharide polymers, polyhydrocarbon polymers, rubber polymers, polyamide polymers and polyester polymers [0201].
Regarding claim 8, Berkel discloses the polymer particles contain a polar functional group selected from one or more of a hydroxyl group, a carboxyl group and a cyano group [0202].
Regarding claim 9, Berkel discloses the polymer particles are polysaccharide polymers [0201].
Regarding claim 13, Berkel discloses the solid electrolyte membrane has a thickness of 20 μm to 200 μm [0127].
Regarding claim 1, Berkel discloses the polymer particles have a size of 1 μm to 500 μm, but does not disclose no less than 90 wt % of the polymer particles have a size of 1 μm to 500 μm. Regarding claim 2, Berkel does not disclose no less than 35 wt % of the polymer particles have a size of 5 μm to 20 μm. Regarding claim 3, Berkel does not disclose no less than 99 wt % of the polymer particles have a size of 1 μm to 500 μm. Regarding claim 4, Berkel does not disclose no less than 99 wt % of the polymer particles have a size of 5 μm to 20 μm. Regarding claim 5, Berkel does not disclose no more than 90 wt % of the polymer particles have a size of 5 μm to 20 μm. Berkel discloses the polymer includes functional groups (e.g., carboxylate, thiol, hydroxyl) which can react with function groups or with reactive species in or on the electrolyte [0202]. Tsujii teaches a solid polymer electrolyte of fine composite particles. The fine particles can be inorganic or organic substance [0116]. To perform extra-high density graft polymerization on the surfaces of fine particles, it is preferable to use monodisperse fine particles preferably having a diameter of 10 nm to 30 um, more preferably 100 nm to 10 um, further preferably 100 nm to 1 um. Here, "monodisperse fine particles" designates particles with 10% or less variation in particle diameter [0117]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the polymer particles of Berkel being monodisperse, as taught by Tsujii, for the benefit of forming extra-high density of graft polymerization of functional groups on Berkel’s polymer to better adhere to the inorganic particles.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berkel (US 2017/0005367) in view of Tsujii (US 2012/0231346) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Tanaka (JP 2017-084589).
Regarding claim 10, Berkel does not disclose the polymer particles have a degree of polymerization of 100,000 to 5 million. Tanaka teaches a composite porous membrane comprising a polymer for a lithium ion battery. The polymer has a molecular weight of 300,000 or more, more preferably 400,000 or more, even more preferably 500,000 or more, particularly preferably 800,000 or more, preferably 2,000,000 or less, more preferably 1,800,000 or less, and even more preferably 1,500,000 or less. If the weight-average molecular weight of the polymer is above the lower limit mentioned above, the polymer can be effectively adsorbed onto the non-conductive inorganic particles, thereby suppressing the polymer from penetrating (seeping into) the electrode composite layer. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the increase in the internal resistance of electrodes equipped with porous films formed using a slurry composition for porous films, thereby significantly improving the low-temperature output characteristics of secondary batteries. Furthermore, if the weight-average molecular weight of the polymer is below the above upper limit, it is possible to suppress the gelation of the porous membrane slurry composition and the resulting increase in viscosity, thereby ensuring sufficient coating properties for the porous membrane slurry composition. Page 33 of the translation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to adjust Berkel’s polymer molecular weight, as taught by Tanaka, for the benefit of having good viscosity to mix Berkel’s composition. Berkel discloses the importance of having an appropriate viscosity when mixing the electrolyte composition [0194].
It is noted that the molecular weight is directly related to the degree of polymerization.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berkel (US 2017/0005367) in view of Tsujii (US 2012/0231346) as applied to claim 1, further in view Amin-Sanayei (WO 2020/257430).
Regarding claim 11, the sulfide electrolyte material is selected from one or more of Li3PS4, Li7P3S11, Li6PS5Cl and Li10GeP2S12, Berkel discloses a sulfide electrolyte material LiPSCl [0140], but does not disclose one or more of Li3PS4, Li7P3S11, Li6PS5Cl and Li10GeP2S12. Teaches a solid electrolyte having solid conductive particles of Li3PS4 [0026]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to use Amin-Sanayei’s particles of Li3PS4 for Berkel’s inorganic particles since using Li3PS4 particles would also form ion conducting membrane.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berkel (US 2017/0005367) in view of Tsujii (US 2012/0231346) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Cho (US 2019/0372149).
Regarding claim 12, Berkel further discloses comprising a binder [0014], but does not disclose wherein based on the total mass of the sulfide electrolyte material and the polymer particles being 100 parts by mass, the mass of the binder is 0.5 to 20 parts by mass. Cho teaches a solid electrolyte membrane having inorganic solid electrolyte particles. The binder resin provides the bond strength between the membrane components in the solid electrolyte membrane. The binder resin may be present in an amount of 1 to 10 weight % in the solid electrolyte membrane and its content may be properly adjusted to 7 weight % or less, 5 weight % or less, and 3 weight % or less [0038]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add the binder of Berkel in the amount as taught by Cho for the benefit of appropriately binding the inorganic electrolyte to the polymer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CYNTHIA KYUNG SOO WALLS whose telephone number is (571)272-8699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F until 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CYNTHIA K WALLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
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