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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 4/23/2026 is acknowledged.
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:
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.
Claims 1 and 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3907795 A1.
Regarding claims 1 and 3, EP’795 teaches mixing a positive active material used in a sodium-ion battery ([0002]) with a washing solution ([0046]) of deionized water or an acidic solution followed by filtration and drying. See [0057]-[0058]. The washing is disclosed to utilizes a temperature of 20-50°C and a pH of 3-13. See [0057]-[0058]. Example 1 shows a pH of 6. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 4, EP’795 teaches acidic solutions which comprise water (solvent) and an acid (solute). See [0057].
Regarding claim 5, EP’795 teaches a drying temperature of 25-150°C and a drying time of 0.5 to 24 hours. See [0066]. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 6, EP’795 teaches stirring. See [0063].
Regarding claim 7, EP’795 teaches stirring speeds of less than 800 ppm and times of 5-30 minutes. See [0063]. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 8, EP’795 teaches a layered transition metal oxide. See [0015] and [0031]-[0032].
Claims 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3907795 A1 in view of JP 6442633 B2 (newly cited, see provided machine translation).
Regarding claim 2, EP’795 does not teach the washing solution has a temperature of 2-15°C as required by the claim. However, such washing temperatures are known in the art. JP’633 teaches a method of preparing lithium and sodium ion battery cathode materials. See the abstract. JP’633 teaches washing temperatures of 10-70°C. See [0052] and [0097]. Since both EP’795 and JP’633 teach method of washing cathode materials, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the temperature of JP’633 for the temperature in EP’795 in order to predictably wash residual alkali compounds from the surface of the cathode materials and improve cathode performance and stability after repeated use. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY J ZIMMER whose telephone number is (571)270-3591. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:30 AM - 6 PM EST.
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ANTHONY J. ZIMMER
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736
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