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 .
Response to Arguments
The examiner is withdrawing the rejections in the previous Office Action because Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, This Action Is Made Final.
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Kang et al. (US20180108912).
2. Regarding claims 1-14, Kang teaches a binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery (The latex particles (A1) and latex particles (B1) of the obtained binder [0081]; A binder composition for secondary batteries comprising a composite latex comprising conjugated diene latex particles (A) and copolymer latex particles (B), see claimed 1), comprising: a diene-based polymer including a butadiene polymer (1,3-butadiene [0079]), wherein a side chain is bonded to a carbon atom of a main chain of the diene-based polymer (1,3-butadiene [0079]), the side chain comprising a polar functional group (hydroxyethyl acrylate [0079]), wherein the polar functional group has a strong attraction to an electrode or a solid electrolyte based on a dipole moment, and a molar ratio of a polar functional group to the monomers in the diene-based polymer is between 0.1-30:100 (hydroxyethyl acrylate (2 g)/(1,3-butadiene (45 g) + styrene (50 g) + acrylic acid (3 g) + hydroxyethyl acrylate (2 g)) [0079]).
2. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kang for the benefit of a high need for development of binders having excellent adhesivity and low resistance [0008].
3. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the polar functional group may be any one selected from a group consisting of a carboxyl group, a hydroxyl group, an ester group, an amine group and salts thereof (hydroxyethyl acrylate [0079]).
4. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the binder comprises a polymer wherein one or more compound selected from a group consisting of mercapto, (dodecyl mercaptan (0.5 g) [0079])
5. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 3, wherein the binder is one wherein the polar functional group of a mercapto compound is grafted in the diene-based polymer (dodecyl mercaptan (0.5 g) [0079]).
6. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 4, wherein the mercapto compound is grafted in the diene-based polymer via a thiol group (Dodecyl mercaptan [0079] is also called 1-Dodecanethiol)
7. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the binder is one wherein the polar functional group of a carboxylic acid compound is grafted in the diene-based polymer (acrylic acid (3 g) + hydroxyethyl acrylate (2 g)) [0079])
8. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 6, wherein the carboxylic acid compound is grafted in the diene-based polymer via an ester group (acrylic acid (3 g) + hydroxyethyl acrylate (2 g)) [0079]).
9. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 7, wherein a hydroxyl group is bound to carbon adjacent to the carbon of the diene-based polymer in which the carboxylic acid compound is grafted (acrylic acid (3 g) + hydroxyethyl acrylate (2 g)) [0079]).
10. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the polar functional group of the binder forms a hydrogen bond with an OH group present on the surface of a current collector and an active material (Any material may be used without particular limitation so long as it has one functional group that reacts with a hydroxyl or carboxyl group on a surface of a silicon, tin or graphite-based active material to form a chemical bond and the other group that reacts with nano-composites according to the present invention to form a chemical bond [0037]).
11. The binder for an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the binder is soluble in one or more organic solvent selected from a group consisting of n-hexane, toluene, p-xylene, butyl butyrate, tetrahydrofuran and diethyl carbonate (tetrahydrofuran [0070]).
12. An all-solid-state lithium secondary battery electrode composite comprising the binder according to claim 1, a current collector (The slurry was applied to a thickness of 200 micrometers to a copper foil [0082]), an electrode material (the prepared binder for secondary batteries (2.5 g), and carboxymethylcellulose (1 g) as a thickening agent, based on 100 g of the total solid weight, were mixed, to prepare a slurry for negative electrode [0082]) and a sulfide-based solid electrolyte (Examples of the organic solid electrolyte include polyester sulfide [0073])
13. The all-solid-state lithium secondary battery electrode composite according to claim 11, wherein the polar functional group of the binder forms a hydrogen bond with an OH group present on the surface of the current collector and the active material (Any material may be used without particular limitation so long as it has one functional group that reacts with a hydroxyl or carboxyl group on a surface of a silicon, tin or graphite-based active material to form a chemical bond and the other group that reacts with nano-composites according to the present invention to form a chemical bond [0037]).
14. A separator in an all-solid-state lithium secondary battery comprising the binder according to claim 1 (When a solid electrolyte such as a polymer is employed as the electrolyte, the solid electrolyte may serve as both the separator and the electrolyte [0068])
15. An all-solid-state lithium secondary battery comprising the electrode composite according to claim 12 (An organic solid electrolyte or an inorganic solid electrolyte may be used [0072]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLATUNJI GODO whose telephone number is (571)272-3104. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas Smith can be reached on 571-272-8760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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