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)(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 1,3,7-10 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Baek et al. (2021/0151753).
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches a positive electrode and secondary battery including the same. Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material, a conductive material and a binder (abstract). Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the positive electrode material layer disposed on a current collector [0010],[0021]. Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the binder comprising a non-fluorine-based binder to include H-NBR (hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber [0033].
Regarding the claim 3, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the binder content to be 0.80 – 3.0wt% with respect to the total weight of positive electrode active material [0035].
Regarding claim 7, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the binder comprising a fluorine-based binder to include PVF polyvinylidene fluoride [0032].
Regarding claims 8 and 9, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the PVF which is the same binder material claimed and hence would be within the skill of one practicing in the art to utilize the claimed formula 9 and formula 10. Furthermore, it would be within the skill of one practicing in the art to have utilized the claimed formulas recited absent a showing of criticality and/or unexpected results thereof.
Regarding claim 10, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the binder content to be 0.80 – 3.0wt% with respect to the total weight of positive electrode active material [0035].
Regarding claim 17, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the positive electrode active material to include a conductive material (abstract and [0010],[0026]).
Regarding claim 18, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches including the conductive material at 0.20-1.10 wt% [0030].
Regarding claim 19, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches a lithium battery [0002]-[0007].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with Schneiders (11,824,181).
Features detailed above concerning Baek et al. (2021/0151753) are incorporated here.
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) fails to teach a binder to further include having acrylonitrile-derived structure.
Schneiders (11,824,181) teaches a cathode for all solid-state lithium-ion battery whereby the binder is an acrylate-nitrile-butadiene rubber (H-ANBR) (abstract). Schneiders (11,824,181) teaches the nitrile monomer to include acrylonitrile (pg. 5, lines 45-55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have modified Baek et al. (2021/0151753) binder to include acrylate as evidenced by Schneiders (11,824,181) with the expectation of similar success.
Regarding the claimed formula 1,2,3 and 4, the Examiner takes the position that these would be expected as the materials are the same and hence would be within the skill of one practicing in the art to have utilized the formulas recited absent a showing of criticality and/or unexpected results thereof.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with WO 2018/020117.
Features detailed above concerning Baek et al. (2021/0151753) are incorporated here.
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) fails to teach a binder to further include a second HNBR – hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (two HNBR binders).
WO 2018/020117 teaches an active material electrode to include at least one hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (HNBR) and at least one non-hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (NBR) (abstract). The phrase “at least one” infers there can be more than 1 HNBR and more than 1 NBR binders in the composition.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have modified Baek et al. (2021/0151753) to include a second HNBR binder as evidenced by WO 2018/020117 with the expectation of similar success.
Regarding the claimed formula 5,6,7 and 8, the Examiner takes the position that these would be expected as the materials are the same and hence would be within the skill of one practicing in the art to have utilized the formulas recited absent a showing of criticality and/or unexpected results thereof.
Regarding claim 6, Baek et al. (2021/0151753) teaches the binder content to be 0.80 – 3.0wt% with respect to the total weight of positive electrode active material [0035] which would be inclusive of either or both HBNR’s.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with Yajima et al. (2021/0336271).
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with Yajima et al. (2021/0336271).
Features detailed above concerning Baek et al. (2021/0151753) are incorporated here.
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) fails to teach a binder to further include having polyacrylonitrile or polyacrylic acid.
Yajima et al. (2021/0336271) teaches a cationic polymer whereby the binder includes polyacrylonitrile or polyacrylic acid (PAA) (abstract and [0059],[0061].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have modified Baek et al. (2021/0151753) binder to include polyacrylic acid or polyacrylonitrile as evidenced by Yajima et al. (2021/0336271) with the expectation of similar success.
Regarding claim 12, Yajima et al. (2021/0336271) teaches the amount of PAA or polyacrylonitrile binder is 1-10 parts by weight [0060].
Claims 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with JP 2018-201057.
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) in combination with JP 2018-201057.
Features detailed above concerning Baek et al. (2021/0151753) are incorporated here.
Baek et al. (2021/0151753) fails to teach the electrode composition comprising a crosslinking agent to include carbodiimide.
JP 2018-201057 teaches a slurry for an electrode of a secondary battery whereby the binder includes HBNR and the slurry also includes a crosslinking agent of carbodiimide (Pg. 6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have modified Baek et al. (2021/0151753) electrode active material to include crosslinking agent of carbodiimide as evidenced by JP 2018-201057 with the expectation of similar success and crosslinking the slurry composition.
Regarding claim 15, JP 2018-201057 teaches the same crosslinking agent of carbodiimide and hence would be within the skill of one practicing in the art to utilize the claimed formula 12 absent a showing of criticality and/or unexpected results from the claimed formula.
Regarding claim 16, JP 2018-201057 teaches the amount of crosslinking agent carbodiimide to be 0.001-0.5 parts by mass (Pg. 6).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN K TALBOT whose telephone number is (571)272-1428. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 7-4PM.
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/BRIAN K TALBOT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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