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
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Troegel US-20190177171-A1.
Regarding claim 1, Troegel teaches an anode material comprising a composite, wherein
the composite comprises a carbon matrix (Troegel, (0109), "carbon matrix") and
an active material ((0109), "Si/C composite particles in which the silicon particles and the carbon additive") located in the carbon matrix ((0109), "Si/C composite particles in which the silicon particles and the carbon additive are embedded in an amorphous carbon matrix"), and
the active material comprises
primary particles ((0128), "unaggregated, microscale Si/C composite particles" and/or
agglomerates ((the Examiner will arbitrarily divide the agglomerates of Troegel into agglomerates and aggregates of the present disclosure since the current set of claims provide for definitions of agglomerates and aggregates with broad interpretations (0127), "Si/conductive carbon black/PAN powder mixture in the form of agglomerates"), and
aggregates (the Examiner will arbitrarily divide the agglomerates of Troegel into agglomerates and aggregates of the present disclosure since the current set of claims provide for definitions of agglomerates and aggregates with broad interpretations (0127), "Si/conductive carbon black/PAN powder mixture in the form of agglomerates")); and
a proportion of the aggregates in a total number of the primary particles, the agglomerates, and the aggregates is smaller than or equal to 30% ((0128), "degree of aggregation 7%". The Examiner notes that a degree of aggregation corresponds to a proportion of aggregates of smaller than or equal to 30%).
Regarding claim 2, Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, wherein
the active material comprises at least one of Li, K, Sn, Si, Fe, Ti, Al, ... and a silicon alloy ((0032), "Silicon particles may consist of elemental silicon, a silicon oxide, or a binary, ternary or multinary silicon/metal alloy (with, for example, Li ... K, Sn ... Co ... Cu ... Ti, Al, Fe)"),
where 0<x≤2 ((0034), "the stoichiometry of the oxide SiOx is preferably in the 0<x<1.3 range").
Regarding claim 3, Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, wherein
the active material comprises a silicon-based active material ((0032), "Silicon particles may consist of elemental silicon, a silicon oxide, or a binary, ternary or multinary silicon/metal alloy (with, for example, Li ... K, Sn ... Co ... Cu ... Ti, Al, Fe)"), and
the silicon-based active material comprises at least one a silicon alloy ((0032), "Silicon particles may consist of … silicon/metal alloy").
Regarding claim 4, the Examiner notes that claim 4 requires the features of (1) or (2). For the purposes of this Examination, the Examiner will treat feature (1) as optional, and therefore only an analysis of feature (2) will be provided here.
Regarding claim 4, feature (2), Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, comprising
(2) a proportion of the a total number of the agglomerates and the primary particles among a total number of the primary particles, the agglomerates and the aggregates is greater than or equal to 70% ((0128), "degree of aggregation 7%". The Examiner notes that a degree of aggregation of 7% corresponds to a proportion of primary particles greater than 70% (up to 100-7 = up to 93%)).
Regarding claim 5, Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, wherein
the aggregates comprise the primary particles connected in a second connection manner (Troegel, see Fig. 2), and
the second connection manner comprises at least one of an embedding connection (see annotated Fig. 2).
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Annotated FIG. 2 of Troegel
Regarding claim 6, Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, further comprising
a coating layer (Troegel, (0102), "one or more coatings")
located on at least a part of a surface of the composite ((0102), "The surface of the Si/C composite particles can also be modified, by application ... of one or more coatings").
Regarding claim 7, the Examiner notes that claim 7 requires the features of (1) or (2). For the purposes of this Examination, the Examiner will treat feature (2) as optional, and therefore only an analysis of feature (1) will be provided here.
Regarding claim 7, feature (1), Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, comprising
the coating layer comprises at least one of the following features:
the coating layer comprises at least one of a carbon layer (Troegel, (0102), "carbon coating").
Regarding claim 9, the Examiner notes that claim 9 requires the features of (1), (2), (3), or (4). For the purposes of this Examination, the Examiner will treat features (1), (2), and (4) as optional, and therefore only an analysis of feature (3) will be provided here.
Regarding claim 9, feature (3), Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1, comprising
at least one of following features (3)
(3) a porosity of the anode material is smaller than or equal to 10% (Troegel, (0103), "The resulting carbon coating on the Si/C composite particles preferably has a porosity of ≤2%").
Regarding claim 10, Troegel teaches a lithium ion battery ((0063), "lithium-ion batteries"), comprising
an anode material according to claim 1 ((0063), "Si/C composite particles which, used in anode active materials of lithium-ion batteries").
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troegel.
Regarding claim 8, Troegel teaches the anode material according to claim 1.
Troegel is silent on precomposite particle size. However, Troegel discloses Si/C composite particles (understood to be agglomerated/aggregated) have “volume-weighted particle size distributions with diameter percentiles d.sub.50 of preferably ≥0.5 μm” [0091]. The lowest point of the range is therefore 500 nm. However, the composite Si/C can be understood to be secondary particles of the primary (precomposite particiles) and therefore the precomposite particles would include sizes smaller than 500 nm.
The Examiner notes that “the precomposite particles” of Troegel are considered to be the “primary particles” of the instant disclosure. See Troegel, [0067], “The precomposite particles are preferably in the form of core-shell particles. Polyacrylonitrile preferably forms the core. The shell is formed preferably by silicon particles and/or C additive”. See further [0073]-[0074], which teaches that the precomposite particles of Troegel are produced by mixing/milling proportions of silicon particles, PAN (polyacrylonitrile), and C additives.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EVAN M ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-9302. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM U.S. EST.
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/E.M.A./Examiner, Art Unit 1721
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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