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 24 July 2023 and 26 February 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention, “CATALYST,” is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. A title should encompass either specific structural elements of the invention or an aspect of the invention’s utility.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et. al. (Pub No. CN105312087A, published February 10 2016). Herein, reference is made to the original document, denoted as Wang et. al. 1 and to a machine translation, denoted as Wang et. al. 2.
With regard to claim 1, Wang et. al. teach a catalyst comprising metal nanoclusters/particles with an oxygen reduction activity (Wang et. al. 2 paragraphs [0012], [0017], and [0079]), an additive comprising an organic nitrogen compound with a structure corresponding to General Formula (1) (Wang et. all 2 paragraphs [0020] and [0079]; e.g. a complex of cyanuric acid and melamine, which contains the same additive disclosed in the specification and set forth in claim 2), and Nafion®, a perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid polymer, corresponding to the binder (Wang et. al. 2 paragraph [0106], and the same binder disclosed in the specification and set forth in claim 5). See in text, “add 100 μL of <img file="BDA0000545204740000102.TIF" he="56" img-content="drawing" img-format="tif" inline="yes" orientation="portrait" wi="211"/> solution” a misprint of, “add 100 μL of [Nafion®] solution,” (Wang et. al. 2 [0106], see Wang et. al. 1 pp. 15, [101] for correct printing).
As to the weight ratio of the additive to the metal nanoclusters/particles, Wang et al. teach the amount of metal nanoclusters/particles can range from 0.1-90% by weight and can be used at specific weight amounts in the catalyst, such as 50%, 60%, 80%, 85% and 90% (paragraphs [0013] and [0019]) and further teach supporting the additive/cyanuric acid on a carbon support at a mass ratio of the carbon to the additive ranging from 1:1 to 100:1, to provide a nitrogen content, preferably ranging from 1-30% by weight (paragraphs [0014], [0019] and [0029]). In Example 16, Wang et. al. disclose that a mixture of melamine (60 mg), cyanuric acid (60 mg), and platinum nanoparticles are supported on carbon black (400 mg) where the platinum nanoparticles account for 90 wt% of the composite (pp. 59-60, [0173]-[0175]). Since the platinum nanoparticles are 90 wt% of the composite, the melamine and cyanuric acid supported on carbon black is 10 wt% of the composite, and the additive (combination of melamine and cyanuric acid) is ~23 wt% ((60mg+60mg/60mg+60mg+400mg)*100%). Therefore, the ratio of the melamine and cyanuric acid with respect to the platinum nanoparticles is ~0.026 =(23wt%/90wt%) which anticipates the claimed ratio range of more than 0 and 0.150 or less.
With regard to claim 2, Wang et. al. Example 14 teaches an additive comprising cyanuric acid.
With regard to claim 3, Wang et. al. teaches that the additive is a mixture of a first additive and a second additive where the first additive is cyanuric acid and the second additive is melamine, and a weight ratio of the two is 0.50 or more and 5.0 or less (1:1 ratio disclosed, 12.5 mg melamine to 12.5 mg cyanuric acid, pp. 53, [0160]).
With regard to claim 4, Wang et. al. teach a weight ratio of the additive to the metal particles which is 0.010 or more and 0.150 or less (0.026 as analyzed with respect to claim 1, Wang et. al. 2, pp. 59, [0173]-[0175]).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et. al. in view of Daimon et. al. (cited in IDS, ACS Catalysis, 12, 2022, pp 8976-8985, published 29 June 2022).
The limitations of claim 1 are anticipated by Wang et. al. as described previously. Wang et. al. further teaches that the metal particles are supported on a support, (conductive carbon black, pp. 59, [0173], referred to as the loading of particles onto a support, pp. 23, [0081]). Example 10 of Wang et. al. specifically discloses acetylene black as a support in the catalyst composition (pp. 47, [133]). As previously described, Wang et. al. discloses the use of Nafion®, a perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid polymer in the catalyst composition, which corresponds to the claimed binder.
Wang et. al. do not teach the use of platinum-cobalt alloy nanoparticles as a catalytic metal.
Daimon et. al. disclose the use of platinum-cobalt alloy nanoparticles (Section 2.2, pp. 8977) exhibiting high oxygen reduction activity (abstract, pp. 8976) as cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. Daimon et. al. demonstrate that the platinum-cobalt alloy nanoparticles demonstrate superior catalytic activity to their platinum counterpart.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the relevant time to substitute the platinum nanoclusters of Wang et. al. with the platinum-cobalt alloy nanoparticles to improve catalytic activity of the catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. Wang et. al. disclose that alloying precious metals like platinum with other transition metals is advantageous to both reduce the cost of the catalyst and produce unique functions that individual metals do not possess (pp. 3, [0005]). This teaching is suggestive that the platinum-cobalt alloy nanoparticles disclosed by Daimon et. al. could, with a reasonable degree of success, be used in Wang et. al.’s catalyst composition and improve the catalytic activity due to the unique properties of alloy particles.
Furthermore, both of the catalysts described by Wang et. al. and Daimon et. al. are used as cathode electrocatalysts, so it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of both sources to produce the catalyst of the instant application.
Conclusion
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/MORDECAI M LEAVITT/Examiner, Art Unit 1742
/CHRISTINA A JOHNSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1742