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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiao et al. (CN 115321503 A; using the attached English machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Xiao teaches a preparation method of a carbon-free Fe7Se8-based sodium ion (Na+)-storage electrode material (see [0001]), comprising the following steps:
step 1, dissolving ferric chloride and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate in deionized water at a room temperature to get a mixed solution (see [0009]), stirring the mixed solution to obtain a clear yellow liquid (see [0009]), transferring the clear yellow liquid into an autoclave and performing a hydrothermal reaction on the clear yellow liquid at 120 degrees Celsius (C) to 160° C. to obtain a powder (see [0009]), naturally cooling the powder to the room temperature followed by washing and drying, thereby to obtain a spindle-shaped ferric oxide (Fe2O3) powder (see [0009]); and
step 2, grinding and mixing the spindle-shaped Fe2O3 powder prepared in the step 1 with a selenium powder to get a mixed powder (see [0010]); placing the mixed powder and sodium hypophosphite monohydrate (NaH2PO2∙H2O) in a middle region and a front region of a tube furnace respectively (see [0010]), wherein a placement distance between the mixed powder and the sodium hypophosphite monohydrate in the tube furnace is in a range of 6 centimeters (cm) to 15 cm (see [0010]), and a mass ratio of the spindle-shaped Fe2O3 powder: the selenium powder: the sodium hypophosphite monohydrate is 1:(2-3):(5-6) (see [0010]); and performing calcination treatment on the mixed powder and the sodium hypophosphite monohydrate in an inert atmosphere (see [0010]) by heating the mixed powder and the sodium hypophosphite monohydrate from an initial temperature of 25° C (see [0010]) to a calcination temperature of 600° C.-800° C (see [0010]) and maintaining the calcination temperature, thereby to obtain the carbon-free Fe7S8-based Na+-storage electrode material (see [0010]); wherein the carbon-free Fe7Se8-based Na+-storage electrode material has a three-dimensional interconnected porous frame and a phosphorus-selenium (P—Se) bond-rich heterogeneous structure (see [0017] and [0020]).
Regarding claim 2, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 2, the mass ratio of the spindle-shaped Fe2O3 powder: the selenium powder: the sodium hypophosphite monohydrate is 1:2:5 (see [0011])
Regarding claim 3, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 2, the calcination temperature is 600° C (see [0007]), a heating speed of the calcination treatment is in a range of 2-5 degrees Celsius per minute (°C/min) (see [0007]), and a time for maintaining the calcination temperature is in a range of 2-4 hours (h) (see [0012]).
Regarding claim 4, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 1, a molar concentration ratio of the ferric chloride to the ammonium dihydrogen phosphate is 400:9 (see [0013])
Regarding claim 5, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 1, a reaction time for the hydrothermal reaction at 120° C to 160° C is in a range of 3-8 h (see [0014]), a temperature for the drying is 70° C (see [0014]), and a time for the drying is 12 h (see [0014]).
Regarding claim 6, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 1, a temperature for the hydrothermal reaction is 140° C (see [0015]), and the reaction time for the hydrothermal reaction is 5 h (see [0014]).
Regarding claim 7, Xiao teaches wherein in the step 1, the washing after the hydrothermal reaction and the naturally cooling the powder to the room temperature is performed by sequentially washing the powder using deionized water and ethanol (see [0016]).
Regarding claim 8. An application method of the carbon-free Fe7Se8-based Na+-storage electrode material prepared by the preparation method as claimed in claim 1 in a sodium battery (see [0018]), comprising:
using the carbon-free Fe7Se8-based Na+-storage electrode material prepared in the step 2 as an active material of the sodium battery (see [0018]), using a carbon nanotube as a conductive agent (see [0018]), using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as a binder (see [0018]), and using water as a solvent (see [0018]);
grinding the carbon-free Fe7Se8-based Na+-storage electrode material, the carbon nanotube, the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, and the water into a paste (see [0018]);
uniformly coating the paste on a copper foil current collector and then vacuum drying the paste (see [0018]); and
using the paste after the vacuum drying as an anode of the sodium battery, and assembling the anode with a sodium metal and an organic liquid electrolyte, thereby to obtain a Na+ half-cell battery (see [0018]).
Conclusion
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/S.S.H/Examiner, Art Unit 1735 28 May 2026
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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