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 .
Summary
This is the initial Office Action based on the 18/542,605 application filed on 12/16/2023.
Claims 1-14 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tamura et al. (US 2004/0265697).
Addressing claims 1-2, Tamura discloses a battery (lithium secondary battery, [0019]) comprising:
a positive electrode [0019];
a negative electrode [0019];
an electrolyte layer located between the positive and negative electrode [0019], wherein
the negative electrode includes a negative electrode current collector [0012]; and a negative electrode active material [0013] located between the negative electrode current collector and the electrolyte layer [0013],
the negative electrode active material layer comprises a plurality of columnar bodies ([0009], well-defined columnar or insular structures),
the columnar bodies comprise silicon (component that alloys with Li, such as Si, [0013]) and filler comprising nickel (transition metal such as Ni, [0013]), and
the filler is embedded in the columnar bodies (Tamura implicitly discloses that the Ni material is embedded in the columnar bodies because it is part of the active material, which is made of the columnar bodies).
Addressing claim 3, Tamura does not disclose that the active material layer includes any electrolyte; therefore, it is essentially free of an electrolyte as claimed.
Addressing claim 4, fig. 8 of Tamura shows the claimed configuration.
Addressing claims 5-6, Tamura discloses the active material is made of Si and Ni, which satisfy the limitation of current claims.
Addressing claim 8, Tamura discloses in paragraph [0012] the current collector is made of nickel.
Addressing claim 12, Tamura discloses a method for manufacturing a battery, comprising:
forming a thin film comprising silicon on a negative electrode current collector comprising nickel (paragraph [0018] discloses providing an active material in a thin film state on the current collector; paragraph [0013] discloses the active material comprises silicon; paragraph [0012] discloses the current collector comprises nickel);
preparing a laminated body including the negative electrode current collector, the thin film, an electrolyte layer, and a positive electrode [0019]; and
forming a plurality of columnar bodies from the thin film by charging and discharging the laminated body [0011], the columnar bodies comprising silicon and a filler comprising nickel [0013].
Addressing claim 13, paragraph [0018] discloses CVD as the method for forming the active material on the current collector, which qualifies as the claimed vapor-phase method.
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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamura et al. (US 2004/0265697) in view of Tani et al. (WO2012117991 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claim 7, Tamura is silent regarding the filler has a particulate shape.
Tani discloses a negative electrode material comprises columnar bodies of silicon (fig. 1 shows protrusions that correspond to the claimed columnar bodies; the active material is made of silicon as described in page 3 of the translation document; the active material includes Ni as described in pages 3-4 of the translation document). The nickel filler has a particulate shape as shown in fig. 1.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the active material of Tamura with the known nickel filler that has particulate shape as disclosed by Tani in order to obtain the predictable result of suppressing volume expansion and contraction of silicon during discharge (Tani, pages 3-4 of the translation document).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamura et al. (US 2004/0265697) in view of Lyman (US 5,567,544).
Addressing claim 9, Tamura discloses the negative electrode current collector is made of nickel as discussed above; however, Tamura is silent regarding the negative electrode current collector comprises a substrate and a coating layer covering the substrate comprising nickel.
Lyman discloses a battery comprising a negative electrode current collector that comprises a substrate 92 and a coating layer 94 made of nickel (col. 11 ln 42-48).
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the negative electrode current collector of Tamura with the known structure of a substrate with a coating layer made of nickel disclosed by Lyman in order to obtain the predictable result of forming a negative electrode current collector for a secondary battery (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Claim(s) 10-11 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamura et al. (US 2004/0265697) in view of Suzuki et al. (US 2018/0241082).
Addressing claims 10-11, Tamura discloses non-aqueous electrolyte [0019] having lithium ion conductivity; however, Tamura is silent regarding the electrolyte is solid electrolyte.
Suzuki discloses non-aqueous electrolyte for secondary battery that is made of solid electrolyte [0004]. The solid electrolyte is sulfide solid electrolyte [0130].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the nonaqueous electrolyte of Tamura with the known sulfide solid electrolyte disclosed by Suzuki in order to obtain the predictable result of forming nonaqueous electrolyte for a secondary battery with reduced reductive decomposition that improves battery performance (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143; Suzuki, [0004]).
Addressing claim 14, Tamura is silent regarding the laminated body is charged and discharged while applying a pressure to the laminated body.
Suzuki discloses the step of preparing a laminated body comprising the positive electrode, the negative electrode and the solid electrolyte and the laminated body is charged and discharged for an initial cycle [0171] while applying a pressure to the laminated body (the pressure is generated due to the expansion of the silicon negative electrode in the laminated body due to lithiation of lithium ion).
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the method of Tamura with the known step of charge and discharging the laminated body in the initial cycle, as desired by Tamura, while applying a pressure to the laminated body in the manner disclosed by Suzuki in order to obtain the predictable result of producing a secondary battery with nonaqueous electrolyte (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Conclusion
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 06/09/2026
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