He DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of electing Species I (claims 1-13) in the reply filed on December 17, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-20 were withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a canceled invention. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 17, 2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the second monolayer of nanoparticles" in 9th line. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Greer et al. (US 2018/0198006 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Greer teaches coated substrate, the coated substrate as shown in Fig. 2 ([0032], Fig. 2) comprising: a substrate ([0039]); an adhesion promoter overlaying the substrate as shown in Figs, 1 and 6 (([0054], [0062],[0063], Figs. 1 &6) ; and a fluid comprising a first monolayer of nanoparticles and a second monolayer of particles as shown in Figs. 1 and 6 ([0030], [0054], [0063], Figs. 1 &6), wherein: the first monolayer of nanoparticles is bonded to the adhesion promoter, the second monolayer of nanoparticles is bonded to the first monolayer of nanoparticles as shown in Figs. 2, 6 ([0043], [0063] Figs. 2, 6), wherein: covalent bond permanently attaches the nanoparticles to the surface in a single layer as shown in Figs. 2&6 (reads on a first bond between a first nanoparticle of the first monolayer and the adhesion surface is characterized by a first bond strength), chemisorption on the surface is self-saturating as shown in Figs. 2&6 with H bound ( reads on a second bond between two adjacent nanoparticles of the first monolayer is characterized by a second bond strength), a monolayer, or a sub-monolayer of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 is formed (625), may be formed without also introducing new —OH groups on the surface as shown in Fig. 2&6 by van der Waals forces (reads on a third bond between the first nanoparticle of the first monolayer and an adjacent nanoparticle of the second monolayer is characterized by a third bond strength), covalent bond is stronger than H bound, which is stronger than van der Waals forces (reads on the first bond strength is greater than the second bond strength, the second bond strength is greater than the third bond strength), covalent bond permanently attaches the nanoparticles to the surface in a single layer and a covalent bound inherently has a valueless than a theoretical threshold value for covalent bond (reads on the first bond strength is less than a threshold value) ([0043], [0044], [0063] Fig. 6); and when the coated substrate is removed from the bath and rinsed, the loosely bound nanoparticles will be removed, and the covalently bonded ones remain on the substrate surface. In this way, it is expected to form a monolayer of covalently bonded nanoparticles, while any nanoparticle that expected attached as a second or third monolayer, etc. can be removed due to the fact that such possible multilayers of nanoparticles are not covalently bonded to the substrate. Only the first nanoparticle layer is covalently bonded (reads removing monolayers of the plurality of monolayers while retaining the first monolayer to form the substrate with the first monolayer, wherein each nanoparticle in the first monolayer is bonded to another nanoparticle in the first monolayer) ([0044]).
Regarding claim 2, Greer teaches wherein the first monolayer comprises nanoparticles contacting adjacent nanoparticles in the first monolayer as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 ([0062], [0063]).
Regarding claim 3, Greer teaches wherein the nanoparticles comprise silica ([0141]).
Regarding claim 4, Greer teaches wherein the nanoparticles comprise an oxide coated with silica ([0038], [0063], [0141]).
Regarding claim 5, Greer teaches wherein the nanoparticles comprise alumina ([0068]).
Regarding claim 6, Greer teaches wherein the nanoparticles have an average diameter in a range of 25 to 1,000 nm ([0112], [0127]).
Regarding claim 7, Greer teaches wherein the adhesion promoter comprises a single surface functional group, a small molecule, a self- assembled monolayer with an attractive head and tail group, or a long chained polymer ([0030], [0049]).
Regarding claim 8, Greer teaches wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor wafer ([0039]).
Regarding claim 9, Greer teaches wherein the fluid comprises methane equivalence to ethanol ([0063]).
Regarding claim 10, Greer teaches wherein the substrate comprises a light-emitting diode structure (with light-harvesting materials) ([0051]).
Regarding claim 11, Greer teaches wherein the first bond strength is in a range from 0.25 kJ/mol to 500 kJ/mol because wherein: covalent bond permanently attaches the nanoparticles to the surface in a single layer as shown in Figs. 2&6 (reads on a first bond between a first nanoparticle of the first monolayer and the adhesion surface is characterized by a first bond strength), wherein average hydrogen-hydrogen H-H bond strength is approximately 432 KJ/mol (as evidenced by UCalargy Chemistry Textbook Strengths of Ionic and Covalent Bonds attached) (Figs. 2&6).
Regarding claim 12, Greer teaches wherein: a third monolayer of nanoparticles is bonded to the second monolayer of nanoparticles, a fourth bond between a second nanoparticle of the second monolayer and an adjacent nanoparticle of the third monolayer is characterized by a fourth bond strength, and the third bond strength is greater than the fourth bond strength as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 ([0062], [0063]).
Regarding claim 13, Greer teaches wherein the first monolayer of nanoparticles is disposed on the adhesion promoter as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 ([0062], [0063]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAI YAN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7181. The examiner can normally be reached on MTTHF.
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/HAI Y ZHANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717