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 § 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 1-2, 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ise (US 20200203721 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Ise teaches a lithium zinc secondary battery that includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an aqueous electrolyte (Ise, Abstract), which corresponds to the claimed lithium ion secondary battery comprising a positive electrode which a lithium ion is to be inserted into and extracted from, a negative electrode which the lithium ion is to be inserted into and extracted from, and an electrolytic solution including an aqueous solvent, where one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize a negative electrode and a positive electrode in a lithium zinc secondary battery are capable of having lithium ions inserted into and extracted from, especially because Ise teaches that the electrolyte may contain lithium ions (Ise, [0092]);
The negative electrode includes a negative electrode oxide layer (which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material layer) which includes an oxide, the oxide may be in the form of particles (which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material particles) (Ise, [0031-0032], [0055]), and the negative electrode oxide layer may be a porous layer (Ise, [0060]) which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material layer having a porous structure in which the negative electrode active material particles are directly joined to each other, where one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the particles in a porous oxide layer are in contact with each other;
An example is given that the oxide can be titanium oxide and the titanium oxide can have an anatase structure (Ise, [0043]) (which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material particles each include titanium oxide of an anatase type);
The oxide may be included in the negative electrode oxide layer in the form of particles and may be singular primary particles in which the primary particle size of the oxide in the negative electrode is preferably 0.01 µm or more and 0.1 µm or less, equating to 10 nm or more and 100 nm or less (Ise, [0055]), which corresponds to the claimed average particle size of the negative electrode active material particles being less than or equal to 100 nanometers, and more specifically less than or equal to 30 nanometers, overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious (See MPEP § 2144.05).
Regarding claim 4, Ise teaches that it is preferable for the electrolyte to have a pH of 4 or more and 13 or less (Ise, [0092]), which corresponds to the claimed electrolytic solution having a pH that is higher than or equal to 11, overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious (See MPEP § 2144.05).
Regarding claim 5, Ise teaches Figure 4 which shows a separator 5 which is disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode (Ise, [0108]) which creates the claimed positive electrode compartment inside which the positive electrode is disposed and a negative electrode compartment inside which the negative electrode is disposed;
The separator 5 corresponds to the claimed partition that is disposed between the positive electrode compartment and the negative electrode compartment, and it is desirable for the separator to have a shape that allows the electrolyte to be capable of migrating between the positive electrode and the negative electrode (Ise, [0108]), which corresponds to the claimed partition allowing the lithium ion to passthrough the partition;
And different electrolytes can be used on the negative electrode side and the positive electrode side, where the pH of the electrolyte of the positive electrode (which corresponds to the claimed positive electrode solution) is preferably 1 or more and 7 or less, and the pH of the electrolyte of the negative electrode (which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode solution) is preferably 7 or greater (Ise, [0103]), which corresponds to the claimed positive electrode solution contained inside the positive electrode compartment and negative electrode solution contained inside the negative electrode compartment and having a pH higher than a pH of the positive electrode solution.
Claim(s) 1, 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uno (US 20210091358 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Uno teaches a secondary battery 100 including an electrode group which includes a positive electrode and a negative electrode, and an electrolyte, where the electrolyte can be aqueous (Uno, [0102], [0180]) which corresponds to the claimed lithium-ion secondary battery comprising a positive electrode which a lithium ion is to be inserted into and extracted from, a negative electrode which the lithium ion is to be inserted into and extracted from, and an electrolytic solution including an aqueous solvent, where one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that a secondary battery which uses inorganic particles like lithium ions (Uno, [0024-0026], [0044]) necessarily follows a lithium-ion secondary battery, and that the positive electrode and negative electrode of a lithium-ion secondary battery necessarily follow a positive electrode and a negative electrode which a lithium ion is to be inserted into and extracted from;
The negative electrode may include a negative electrode active material-containing layer including a negative electrode active material (Uno, [0105]) where the negative electrode active material can be in the form of particles (which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material particles) and includes a titanium oxide that can have an anatase structure (Uno, [0119], [0113-0114]) which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material layer and the negative electrode active material particles which each include titanium oxide of the anatase type,
The negative electrode active material-containing layer has a porosity (Uno, [0109]) and is thus porous, which corresponds to the claimed negative electrode active material layer having a porous structure in which the negative electrode active material particles are directly joined to each other, where one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the particles in a porous negative electrode active material-containing layer are in contact with each other;
The negative electrode active material is contained in the negative electrode active material-containing layer, in the form of particles and can be primary particles with an average particle size of 0.1 µm or more and 0.8 or less (Uno, [00122]), which overlaps with the claimed average particle size of the negative electrode active material particles being less than or equal to 100 nanometers, overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious (See MPEP § 2144.05).
Regarding claim 3, Uno teaches a density of the negative electrode active material-containing layer of 2.0 g/cm3, which falls within the claimed volume density of the negative electrode active material layer being greater than or equal to 1.0 grams per cubic centimeter and less than or equal to 3.5 grams per cubic centimeter;
The specific surface area of the negative electrode active material is within a range of 3m2/g or more and 200 m2/g or less, which overlaps with the claimed specific surface area of the negative electrode active material layer being greater than or equal to 1 square meter per gram and less than or equal to 500 square meters per gram overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious (See MPEP § 2144.05).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Seki (US 20190089011 A1) teaches a similar device, see figures 1-4. Takami (US 20170077547 A1) teaches a similar device, see figures 1-5.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M CLEVER whose telephone number is (571)270-3156. The examiner can normally be reached Tues-Thurs | 9:00am-4:00pm.
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/J.M.C./ Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/NICHOLAS A WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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