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 .
Status of the Claims
The preliminary amendment submitted 02/23/2024 have been entered and fully considered. Claims 1-14 are pending. Claims 13-14 are amended. Claims 1-14 are examined herein.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 5-10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites “metal-containing particles.” However, this term is unclear in view of applicant’s specification. The term metal has a well-recognized meaning in the art and applicant provides examples of metals that do not fall within the definition of metal: Si and Ge. Applicant is therefore using the term in a manner contrary to or inconsistent with one or more of its ordinary meanings. This renders the term “metal” unclear. Claim 2 resolves the issue as it clearly sets forth the elements encompassed by “metal.” Claims 5-10 and 12-14 depend from claim 1 and do not resolve the issue; therefore, they are rejected for the same reason.
Regarding claim 3, the claim recites “the core contains the metal-containing particles” while claim 2, from which claim 3 depends, recites “the metal-containing particles are present in the shell.” Both of these limitations cannot be simultaneously met, rendering the scope of the claim unclear. For the purpose of the Office action, the claim will be interpreted as referring to portions of the metal-containing particles.
Regarding claim 10, the claim recites “a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peak is 0.1 or more and 0.5 or less.” The FWHM lacks units, rendering the scope of the claim unclear. It is assumed for the purpose of this Office action, that the units are degrees (i.e. is 0.1° or more and 0.5° or less) as the peak refers to an XRD diffraction peak.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-9, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein).
Claim interpretation: Claim 1 recites “at least one of the angles is in a range of 60° to 90°.” Accordingly, this claim limitation is met when only a single particle is oriented in the claimed manner.
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material comprising composite particles containing silicon particles 14 (“metal-containing particles”) (Abstract; Figs. 2-5). The silicon particles 14 have a longest diameter l, along a major axis ([0031]-[0036]). At least one of the silicon particles 14 is oriented such that an angle formed between the major axis and a straight line connected a center point of the composite particle is between 60° and 90° (Figs 2-5). See, for example, silicon particles 14a which are placed on the surface of carbonaceous particles (Fig. 2; [0038]).
Regarding claims 2-3, Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo discloses a core containing carbonaceous particles 12 and silicon particles 14c, and a shell containing silicon particles 14a, 14b (Figs. 2-5).
Regarding claim 8, Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo discloses ratio r (t/l) of the longest diameter l to the shortest diameter t (analogous to the sphericity) of the silicon particles is preferably 0.001 or greater and 0.5 or less ([0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 9, Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo discloses Examples 5 and 6 have a silicon percentage of 20% and 45% by mass (Table 1). The percentage of carbon is therefore 80% and 55% by mass. See also [0016].
Regarding claim 12, Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo discloses Examples 2 and 3 having average particle sizes of 20 µm and 18 µm ([0080], [0082]). Attaching the silicon particles as discussed by Honbo would not meaningfully affect the diameter of the particles.
Regarding claims 13-14, Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo further discloses a lithium-ion secondary battery comprising a negative electrode, a positive electrode positioned to face the negative electrode, and an electrolyte between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, wherein the negative electrode comprises the negative electrode active material ([0018], [0063]).
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.
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein) in view of US 2022/0190335 A1 (“Kim ‘335”).
Regarding claim 4, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material of claim 2. Honbo is silent regarding a ratio of the number of the metal-containing particles satisfying the specific angular condition in which at least one of the angles is in a range of 60° to 90°, to a total number of the metal-containing particles present in the shell is 40% or more.
Kim ‘335 discloses an anode active material contains a carbon composite, and the carbon composite may include a core particle including hard carbon and a skin layer placed on a surface of the core particle. The skin layer includes graphite particles 16 attached to the surface of the core particle at a predetermined angle with respect to the surface and the graphite particles include graphite-based carbon material (Abstract). Kim ‘335 teaches 50% by weight or more of the graphite particles 16 based on the total weight of the graphite particles 16 are attached at an angle of about 20° to about 90° with respect to the surface of the core particle 12 (analogous to the claimed angular condition) ([0046]). As the graphite particles 16 are attached to the surface of the core particle 12 at a relatively large inclination angle, a relatively large amount of graphite particles 16 may be placed to surround the surface of the core particle 12 ([0047]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the angle of the silicon particles of Honbo through routine experimentation because Kim ‘335 teaches the concept of providing a majority of an active material (in this case graphite) at a relatively large inclination angle so that a relatively large amount of the active material may be placed to surround the surface of the core.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein).
Regarding claim 6, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material of claim 1. As discussed above, Honbo discloses silicon particles (SiOx, where x=0). Honbo does not expressly disclose the silicon-containing particles have an average particle diameter D50 in a range of 80 to 200 nm. However, Honbo discloses the number average value of the longest diameter (l) of the silicon particles attached to the carbonaceous particles is 10 nm to 5000 nm from the viewpoint of maintaining the state in which silicon particles are attached to carbonaceous particles ([0036]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the average particle diameter in order to maintain the state in which silicon particles are attached to carbonaceous particles.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein) in view of US 2008/0241647 A1 (“Fukui”).
Regarding claim 7, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material of claim 1. Honbo does not expressly disclose an average diameter D50 of crystal grains of the metal-containing particles is in a range of 13 to 18 nm.
Fukui discloses a negative electrode active material containing silicon (Abstract). Fukui further discloses a small crystallite (i.e. crystal grain) size of 100 nm or less means that a large number of grain boundaries, which serve as the paths for passing lithium, can exist in the silicon particles since the crystallite size is small relative to the size of the silicon particles. Therefore, grain boundary diffusion of lithium facilitates the migration of lithium into the silicon particles during charge and discharge, uniformity of the reactions in the silicon particles becomes very high. As a result, the amounts of volumetric change in the silicon particles are made uniform, and the fractures of the silicon particles, which result from the large strain within the silicon particles, are minimized ([0047]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the average diameter D50 of crystal grains of the silicon through routine experimentation to minimize the fracture of silicon particles.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein) in view of US 2012/0288768 A1 (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 10, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material of claim 9. Honbo discloses the negative electrode active material comprises carbonaceous particles 12 ([0025]-[0026]) but does not expressly disclose an XRD diffraction peak of the carbon-based material appears at 25° or higher and 27° or lower, and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peak is 0.1° or more and 0.5° or less.
Lee discloses the negative active material includes a carbonaceous material that has a peak with respect to a surface (002) at a Bragg angle 2θ of 26.4° ± 0.1° in an X-ray diffraction spectrum, has a full width at half maximum of the peak with respect to the surface (002) of about 0.3° to about 0.5°, has an interlayer spacing (d002) of the surface (002) measured by X-ray diffraction of about 3.36 Å to about 3.37 Å, and has a crystallite size measured from the full width at half maximum of the peak with respect to the surface (002) of about 10 nm to about 45 nm (Abstract; [0051]-[0054]). The carbonaceous material provides improved input and output characteristics and high rate characteristics ([0011]-[0012], [0069], [0071]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a carbonaceous material with the diffraction peak and FWHM as taught by Lee to improve input and output characteristics and high rate characteristics.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2016-100225 A (“Honbo” – of record, machine translation of granted patent JP 6503700 B2 cited herein) in view of US 2018/0069266 A1 (“Kim ‘266”).
Regarding claim 11, Honbo discloses a negative electrode active material of claim 2. Honbo discloses the surface of the silicon particles are coated with a carbonaceous material formed from the carbonization of pitch or a gas-phase method such as CVD ([0043]-[0051]). This forms an amorphous carbon in the core on silicon particles 14c.
Honbo does not expressly disclose the shell comprises crystalline carbon.
Kim ‘266 discloses a negative electrode active material which includes a core including artificial graphite and hard carbon, and a shell surrounding the core and including natural graphite (Abstract). It is noted that even if Honbo does not inherently disclose amorphous carbon in the core, Kim ‘266 discloses the hard carbon in the core is amorphous carbon ([0045]). The natural graphite in the shell is crystalline carbon ([0052]). Since the natural graphite completely surrounds the artificial graphite and the hard carbon, the hard carbon having a low initial efficiency and high electrolyte solution consumption is not exposed to the outside, and thus, the negative electrode active material of the present invention may exhibit high initial efficiency and life characteristics. Also, since the natural graphite, the artificial graphite, and the hard carbon are all used, diffusion resistance of lithium ions is lower than that of a case where the natural graphite is only used, and thus, high output characteristics may be achieved ([0068]). For these reasons, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include amorphous carbon in the core and crystalline carbon in the shell.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert Scott Carrico whose telephone number is (571)270-5504. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:15AM-6PM ET.
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Robert Scott Carrico
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/Robert S Carrico/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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