DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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 with traverse of group 1, claims 1-7 and 18-20, drawn to (a) cathode active material particle(s) and an article comprising a cathode layer comprising cathode active material particles in the reply filed on 05/15/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that group 2 (claims 8-17) is drawn to a method of making the particles of claim 1 and that it would not be burdensome to examine groups 1 and 2 together. This is not found persuasive as examining the method of making would require the inventions require a different field of search the search in additional areas of search such as H01M 4/0471 and include searching different classes/subclasses and employing different search queries.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/16/2024, 09/21/2023 and 09/21/2023 were in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 09/21/2023. These drawings are acceptable.
Specification
There are two abstracts with the same filing date on file, both start similarly: “A cathode active particles”. The abstract should either start with “A cathode active particle” or with “Cathode active particles”.
A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (WO 2021211544 A1; hereinafter “Li”; see the English equivalent US 2023/0187617 for citation) in view of Su, Yuefeng et al. (hereinafter; “SuYuefeng”).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches a cathode active material particle for use in a cathode of a lithium ion battery comprising a core (a cathode particle has a core, abstract)) which comprises a lithium-manganese-rich oxide (the core includes a lithium transition metal oxide, [0004]) and a coating on the core (a cathode particle has a core and an outer layer, abstract), wherein the coating comprises a lithium manganese spinel. (The outer layer's first crystal structure may be at least one of a layered crystal structure or a spinel crystal structure, abstract.) Li teaches a Lithium Transition Metal Oxide (LMO) but fails to explicitly disclose a Lithium-Manganese-Rich Oxide (LMRO). SuYuefeng discloses a Lithium-Manganese-Rich-Oxide-core. Li and SuYuefeng are analogous prior art to the current invention because they are concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely Lithium-Manganese-Oxide Cathode materials. Before the effective filing date of the current invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to replace the LMO-core disclosed by Li with a LMRO-core as disclosed by SuYuefeng as doing so would amount to nothing more than to use a known material for its intended use in a known environment to accomplish an entirely predictable result.
Claims 2-6, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (WO 2021211544 A1; hereinafter “Li”; see the English equivalent US 2023/0187617 for citation) in view of Su, Yuefeng et al. (hereinafter; “SuYuefeng”) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Wang et al. (Wang hereinafter).
Regarding claim 2, Li teaches a coating comprising a lithium manganese oxide represented by a formula LiMaMn(2-a)O4, where M is a transition metal selected from nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, niobium or a combination thereof, a is greater than or equal to 0 and less than 0.5.. Li discloses a coating comprising a lithium manganese oxide represented by a formula LiMaMn(2a)04, where M is a transition metal selected and discloses nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, niobium, or a combination thereof ((LiMn1.5Ni0.5O4, abstract),Li discloses Nickel, [0007]). Li further discloses that any element or elements that have the same average valence as Mn1.5 Ni0.5 in LiMn1.5 Ni0.5 O4 and form a spinel crystal structure with Li and O may be used as the shell (coating) material [0051]. Li fails to disclose that a is greater than or equal to 0 and less than 0.5. Wang however, discloses a Ni-doped spinel LiNixMn2−xO4 with x = 0, 0.05 (Wang, abstract). Li and Wang are analogous prior art to the current invention because they are concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely spinel containing cathode materials. Before the effective filing date of the current invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to replace the lithium manganese oxide disclosed by Li with a spinel according to the disclosure by Wang as doing so would amount to nothing more than to use a known material for its intended use in a known environment to accomplish an entirely predictable result.
Regarding claim 3, Li teaches the cathode active material particles according to claim 1 and discloses that these particles are having an average particle size of 3 to 20 microns (10 µm single crystal cathode particles with LiCoO2 in the core [0052]) and the coating on the core has a thickness of 0.5 to 20 nm (The shell had a thickness of tens of nanometers (e.g., about 2nm to about 50 nm),[0052]).
Regarding claim 4, Li discloses a cathode active material according to claim 1. Li further discloses a possible material structure to be: (X(r)LiCoO2 · (1-X(r)) LiMn0.75Ni0.25O2), “…the composition in the particle changed from core to shell, …” [0054]). The disclosed structure is not a lithium- manganese-rich oxide, represented by a formula xLi2MnO3·(1−x)LiMeO2, where x is greater than 0 and less than 1, and Me is a transition metal. SuYuefeng, however in the same field of endeavor namely optimization of Li-rich cathode materials discloses a lithium rich-material, namely, 0.5Li2MnO3·0.5LiNi0.3Co0.3Mn0.4O2 which fulfills the requirements of the formular.
Regarding claim 5, Li discloses the cathode active material particles of claim 4 wherein the transition metal Me is Mn, Ni, Co, or a combination thereof. Li specifically discloses Co, for example in [0054].
Regarding claim 6, Li discloses the cathode active material particles of claim 4 wherein the transition metal Me is a combination of Mn and Ni in a molar ratio of Mn:Ni in a range of 2:3 to 9:1. (In one implementation, the cathode particle' outer layer may include Li, manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and oxygen (O). The ratio of Mn to Ni may be about 3:1; [0007]).
Regarding claim 18, Li discloses a cathode layer comprising cathode active particles (Li; abstract) comprising a core (Li; abstract) which comprises a lithium-manganese-rich oxide (SuYuefeng) and a coating on the core (Li; abstract), wherein the coating comprises lithium manganese spinel (Li; abstract) as set forth above but fails to disclose an article that comprises the cathode layer. SuYuefeng discloses that Li-rich oxides have attracted attention for high-energy and safe lithium-ion batteries (abstract) and discloses the optimization of Li-rich cathode materials in the title.
Regarding claim 20, Li fails to disclose an article, but SuYuefeng indirectly teaches the article of claim 18 which is a battery. (SuYuefeng discloses the optimization of Li-rich cathode materials and their application in high-energy and safe lithium-ion batteries). The battery comprising the cathode layer on a cathode current collector, an anode layer on an anode current collector, and between the cathode layer and the anode layer, a separator, and an electrolyte for transporting ions to or from the cathode active layer and/or the anode active layer. (SuYuefeng does not explicitly disclose a cathode layer on a cathode current collector, an anode layer on an anode current collector, and between the cathode layer and the anode layer, a separator, and an electrolyte for transporting ions to or from the cathode active layer and/or the anode active layer but discloses the application in a lithium-ion battery. The listed components are standard components of a battery.)
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (WO 2021211544 A1; hereinafter “Li”; see the English equivalent US 2023/0187617 for citation) in view of Su, Yuefeng et al. (hereinafter; “SuYuefeng”) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Geng et al. (US2022016601; hereinafter “Geng”).
Regarding claim 7, Li discloses that the coating comprises molybdenum (The doping element may include at least one of… molybdenum (Mo)...; ([0114])) in amounts of less than 0.1 weight, preferably less than 0.05 weight% based on total weight of the particles (the content of the doping element may be in a range of 0.05 mol % to 2 mol %; [0114]). Alternatively, Geng discloses molybdenum doping in their article “Engineering layered/spinel heterostructure via molybdenum doping towards highly stable Li-rich cathodes”.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Li et al. (WO 2021211544 A1; hereinafter “Li”; see the English equivalent US 2023/0187617 for citation) in view of Su, Yuefeng et al. (hereinafter; “SuYuefeng”) and Wang et al. (hereinafter “Wang”) as applied to claim 18 above, and further in of Hae et al. (hereinafter “Hae”).
Regarding claim 19, Li discloses a coating comprising a lithium manganese oxide represented by a formula LiMaMn(2a)O4, where M is a transition metal selected and discloses nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, niobium, or a combination thereof (Li discloses Nickel, [0007]) but fails to disclose that a is greater than or equal to 0 and less than 0.5.Wang however discloses a Ni-doped spinel LiNixMn2−xO4 with x = 0, 0.05 (Wang, abstract). Li and Wang are analogous prior art to the current invention because they are concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely spinel containing cathode materials. Before the effective filing date of the current invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to replace the lithium manganese oxide disclosed by Li with a spinel according to the disclosure by Wang as doing so would amount to nothing more than to use a known material for its intended use in a known environment to accomplish an entirely predictable result. Li and Wang disclose a cathode active material but fail to disclose the application of the material to an article. Hae discloses the application of a core shell particle having a conducting spinel-structured oxide layer as a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries and further discloses its application as the power source for electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage system (Hae; Introduction). Li and Hae are analogous prior art to the current invention because they are concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely spinel containing cathode active material core shell particles. Before the effective filing date of the current invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize the particles as disclosed by Li for an article as described by Hae as doing so would amount to nothing more than to use a known material for its intended use in a known environment to accomplish an entirely predictable result.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure:
Kim et al. (US9979014B2) teaches a composite cathode active material, cathode and lithium battery comprising the same, and preparation method thereof.
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/S.L.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1725
/NICOLE M. BUIE-HATCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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