DETAILED ACTION
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 claims 1-6 and 10-12 in the reply filed on July 15, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 15, 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on January 2, 2024, March 5, 2025, April 22, 2025 and April 30, 2026 have been considered by the examiner.
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)(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.
Claims 1, 3-6, 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by J. Alloys Compd., 884, 160945, hereinafter Chen. (A copy of Chen was provided by applicant with the Information Disclosure Statement filed on April 22, 2025).
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches a negative electrode composition. The negative electrode composition comprises a silicon-based active material, acetylene black (“negative electrode conductive material”) and polyacrylic acid and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) (“negative electrode binder”) (Section 2.3).
The silicon-based active material comprises a carbon coating layer at a surface thereof. The carbon coating layer is doped with fluorine (F) (abstract, Section 3.1).
The silicon-based active material comprises silicon (Si) present at 75 parts by weight of the silicon-based active material (Section 3.1, 1st paragraph).
Regarding claim 3, Chen teaches that the silicon-based active material is present at 70 parts by weight of the negative electrode composition (Section 2.3).
Regarding claim 4, Chen teaches that the acetylene black (“negative electrode conductive material”) is present at 15 parts by weight based on the negative electrode composition (Section 2.3).
Regarding claim 5, Chen teaches that the F doped in the carbon layer forms a single bond between carbon and F (Section 3.1, 1st paragraph, 4th paragraph and figures 1b and 4b).
Regarding claim 6, Chen teaches that the F is present at 4.22 parts by weight relative to the weight of the silicon-based active material (Section 3.1, 4th paragraph).
Regarding claim 10, Chen teaches a negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery.
The negative electrode comprises a Cu foil as a negative electrode current collector. A negative electrode active material layer comprising the negative electrode composition of claim 1 is formed on one surface of the Cu foil (Section 2.3).
Regarding claim 12, Chen teaches a lithium secondary battery (abstract, Section 2.3).
The lithium secondary battery comprises a positive electrode, the negative electrode of claim 10, a Celgard separator between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and an electrolyte.
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over J. Alloys Compd., 884, 160945, hereinafter Chen as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chinese Patent Publication CN 105576185A, hereinafter Zhao. (A machine translation of Zhao is included with the current office action).
Regarding claim 2, Chen teaches that the negative electrode conductive material is acetylene black - a type of carbon black (Section 2.3).
Chen fails to teach that the negative electrode conductive material comprises a planar conductive material and a linear conductive material.
Zhao teaches a negative electrode composition comprising silicon particles, binder and a mixture of conductive materials (paragraph [0012]). The mixture of conductive materials includes graphene (“planar conductive material”), carbon nanotubes (“linear conductive material”) and carbon black at relative ratios by weight in the range (0-15) : (0-15) : (0-15) (paragraphs [0017-0019, 0047]). Zhao teaches that the mixture of conductive materials provides the negative electrode composition with enhanced electrical conductivity compared to carbon black alone (paragraphs [0038, 0114]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select a mixture of negative electrode conductive materials comprising graphene (“planar conductive material”) and carbon nanotubes (“linear conductive material”) at a ratio by weight within the range taught by Zhao for the purpose of improving the electrical conductivity of Chen’s active material.
Within the range taught by Chen as modified by Zhao there are numerous combinations which satisfy the instantly claimed composition ranges. For example, one might select 13 parts by weight graphene (“planar conductive material”), 1 part by weight carbon nanotubes (“linear conductive material”) and 1 part by weight carbon black. The resulting composition would include 87 parts by weight graphene (“planar conductive material”) and 7 parts by weight carbon nanotubes (“linear conductive material”) based on 100 parts by weight negative electrode conductive material.
The optimum range of Chen as modified by Kamiya for the amounts of the planar conductive material and the linear conductive material overlap the instant application's optimum ranges of 80 to 95 parts by weight and 0.5 to 20 parts by weight, respectively. It has been held that in the case where claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP 2144.05.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over J. Alloys Compd., 884, 160945, hereinafter Chen as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2020/0006743, hereinafter Kamiya.
Regarding claim 11, Chen teaches that the negative electrode comprises a Cu foil as a negative electrode current collector. A negative electrode active material layer comprising the negative electrode composition of claim 1 is formed on one surface of the Cu foil (Section 2.3). Chen does not specify the thickness of the Cu foil and the thickness of the negative electrode active material layer.
Chen fails to teach the thickness of the current collector and the thickness of the active material layer.
Kamiya teaches a negative electrode having a negative electrode active material layer on a negative electrode current collector. The negative electrode active material layer includes Si particles, acetylene black as a negative electrode conductive material and CMC as a negative electrode binder and has a thickness in the range 1 µm to 100 µm (paragraphs [0043, 0044]). The negative electrode current collector is a Cu foil with a thickness in the range 1 µm to 100 µm (paragraph [0042]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select a thickness in the range 1 µm to 100 µm for the Cu foil for the purpose of providing sufficient robustness to the current collector while optimizing the energy density of the electrode and to select a thickness for the negative electrode active material layer in the range 1 µm to 100 µm for the purpose of ensuring sufficient capacity while optimizing the internal resistance of the electrode.
The optimum range of Chen as modified by Kamiya for the thickness of the negative electrode active material layer overlaps the instant application's optimum range of 20 µm to 500 µm. It has been held that in the case where claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP 2144.05.
Conclusion
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/LILIA NEDIALKOVA/ Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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