Detailed Notice
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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2022, 12 (2): 572–578 (as provided in the file wrapper by applicant, hereafter referred to as Li) in view of Yan et al. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 2016, 191, 130–137.
Regarding Claims 1-5, provided below is an image of Fig. 1 of Li.
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Li teaches a tandem system for water splitting comprising two separate photocatalytic units for O2 evolution and H2 evolution (abstract). During operation, H2 and O2 can evolve on the two photocatalyst panels in the presence of the corresponding redox mediator, respectively, and the reaction solution that contains redox mediators is pumped back and forth with a peristaltic pump between the two divided compartments to allow regeneration of the redox mediators. As a consequence, H2 and O2 will evolve separately in the H2 and O2-evolution compartments, respectively [Page 3, last paragraph of Section 1 spanning Col. 1 and 2.]. Li teaches the use of a BiVO4 panel for photocatalytic O2 generation (understood to be an oxygen side- photocatalyst member and support) and SrTiO3:Rh and ZrO2/TaON photocatalysts for H2 generation (understood to be a hydrogen side- photocatalyst member and support) [Section 2.2]. Li teaches that the BiVO4 panels were employed as the front light absorber, and the back panels (Ru–SrTiO3:Rh and RhyCr2−yO3–ZrO2/TaON) can be irradiated by solar light passing through the BiVO4 panel, such that it is understood that both the H2 and O2 compartments see the same light [Section 3.4]. Li further teaches that H2 and O2 gases evolved in this system are not mixed, which in conjunction with the gas chromatograph lines (labelled GC in Fig. 1. and further Section 2.5) it is then understood Li teaches both a hydrogen gas recovery unit for recovering the hydrogen gas. As Li teaches that only H2 and O2 gases are evolved alone in their respective compartments by photocatalysis without generation of the other gas, whereby both sides see the same reactant (water), and both compartments see the same light source it understood that Li inherently teaches to claims 4 and 5 [again, as stated explicitly in Sec. 3.4 wherein the gases are not mixed; therefore they cannot be produced in the same compartment].
However, Li does not teach that both compartments have their own light source, where the light source is the same, and those light sources are a light emitting diode, as per Claims 1-3.
Yan teaches a z-scheme photocatalytic water-oxidation system in the same field of endeavor as Li [abstract].
Yan teaches that a water splitting photocatalysis experiments can be performed in a side-irradiation type pyrex reaction cell, where it is understood that side-reaction means that at least one of a light source is required to irradiate an O2 generation photocatalyst and an H2 generating photocatalyst system [Sec. 2.4]. Yan teaches that LED lamps were used to test the efficiency of the O2 and H2 reactions, where it is understood that the O2 generation photocatalyst and an H2 generating photocatalyst systems are irradiated simultaneously both by side-illumination [Sec. 2.5. and last paragraph of Sec. 3.3].
Prior to the filing of the present invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill that the solar sunlight irradiation of both the O2 generation photocatalyst and an H2 generating photocatalyst systems used for hydrogen gas production by water splitting, as per Li, could be substituted for the LED lamp illumination, as per Yan, as a matter of simple substitution, where the substitution of one light source for another would produce the expected result of a water splitting reaction generating hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.
Conclusion
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NATHANAEL JASON. DOWNES
Examiner
Art Unit 1794
/NATHANAEL JASON DOWNES/Examiner, Art Unit 1794
/BRIAN W COHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
