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 .
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.
1. Claims 1-3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maxwell et al. (US20220020977).
2. Regarding claims 1-3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, and 20, Maxwell teaches a positive lithium supplement material (see Fig. below), comprising: a core comprising LixMyOz, the M element comprising at least one of Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, or Zn; an inorganic coating layer coated on at least part of a surface of the core; and
an organic coating layer coated on at least part of a surface of the inorganic coating layer away from the core, wherein 2≤x≤6, 1≤y≤2, 2≤z≤4, and the core is electrically neutral (see Fig. below).
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3. Regarding claim 16, Maxwell teaches wherein the core has a median particle diameter in a range of 5 μm to 20 μm (In further examples, the average size of the core particles 102 may be at least 6 μm and at most 12 μm [0048]).
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 of this title, 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.
4. Claims 9, 10, 15, 17, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maxwell et al. (US20220020977).
5. Regarding claims 9 and 10, Maxwell teaches wherein a mass fraction of the inorganic coating layer of the positive lithium supplement material is in a range of 0.5 wt % to 10 wt % (In other examples, the surface coating 104 may be present within the active material at greater than 0.1% by weight and less than 5% by weight… greater than 0.1% by weight and less than 10% by weight [0062]).
Regarding claim 15, Maxwell teaches wherein a mass fraction of the organic coating layer of the positive lithium supplement material is in a range of 0.5 wt % to 10 wt % (n some examples, the finally-formed slurry may have a carbon content of 1-5 wt. %, or 2-4 wt [0176]).
6. Regarding claim 17, Maxwell teaches wherein the inorganic coating layer has a thickness in a range of 5 nm to 50 nm (The passivating layer may have a thickness of at most 1 μm [0111]).
7. Regarding claim 18, Maxwell teaches wherein the organic coating layer has a thickness in a range of 5 nm to 50 nm (In other examples, the thickness of the passivating layer 112 may be less than 0.1 μm [0068]).
8. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maxwell for the benefit of producing high energy Li ion batteries [0003].
9. Claims 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maxwell et al. (US20220020977) in view of Manthiram et al. (US20240136505 filed 9/30/22).
10. Manthiram teaches a first coating layer disposed on the surface of the particles and containing at least one element selected from B, Sb (abstract), and the first coating layer may include boron oxide, lithium boron oxide, antimony oxide [0069] for the benefit of manufacturing a battery with both (e.g., simultaneously) high energy and high safety [0005].
11. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maxwell with Manthiram teachings for the benefit of manufacturing a battery with both (e.g., simultaneously) high energy and high safety.
12. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maxwell et al. (US20220020977) in view of Zhang et al. (US20220271329).
13. Zhang teaches a ceramic particle, where as shown in FIG. 2, the ceramic particle has a core-shell structure, that is, the ceramic particle includes a shell layer and a core, a material forming the shell layer includes a modification material, and a material forming the core includes an inorganic ceramic material [0010]; the modification material is selected from a substituted siloxane [0011] and the siloxane is selected from an amino-containing siloxane [0014] for the benefit of not reducing the rate, low temperature, and cycle performances of the battery (abstract).
14. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maxwell with Zhang for the benefit of not reducing the rate, low temperature, and cycle performances of the battery.
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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