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 .
Priority
Acknowledgement has been made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 USC 119 (a-d). The certified copy has been filed on 2/27/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed 2/27/2024 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
Drawings have not been filed as of the mailing of this Office Action.
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.
Claims 1-11, 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (US 2021/0305621) in view of Lee (US 2018/0166682).
Regarding claim 1, Chang discloses an electrode for a lithium secondary battery comprising: an electrode substrate; a first porous layer formed on the electrode substrate, wherein the first porous layer has a porosity of 10% or less [0025]; and
a second porous layer formed on the first porous layer, wherein the second porous layer contains inorganic particles [0033], and has a porosity of 30% or more [0038].
Regarding claim 2, a difference between the porosity of the first porous layer and the porosity of the second porous layer is 20% or more [0025, 0038].
Regarding claim 3, the porosity of the first porous layer is from 0.1% to 10% [0025]. MPEP states that prior art which teaches a range overlapping or touching the claimed range anticipates if the prior art range discloses the claimed range with “sufficient specificity.” See 2131.03.
Regarding claim 4, the porosity of the second porous layer is from 30% to 90% or less [0038].
Regarding claim 6, the inorganic fine particles comprises one or more of alumina, boehmite, aluminum hydroxide, silica, titania, zirconia, zirconium titanate, lanthana, yttria, strontium titanate, barium titanate, magnesia, magnesium hydroxide, aluminosilicate, zeolite, LLZO, LATP, or PZT [0033].
Regarding claim 8, the first porous layer includes an ion conductive polymer [0093, 0094, 0095].
Regarding claim 9, the ion conductive polymer comprises one or more of polyethylene oxide, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene, polymethyl(meth)acrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylonitrile, polyacrylic acid, polyethylmeth(acrylate), or polycaprolactone [0093].
Regarding claim 10, the first porous layer includes a lithium salt [0093].
Regarding claim 11, the first porous layer contains from 5 parts by weight to 200 parts by weight of the lithium salt with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ion conductive polymer, given the broadness of the claimed range, it is noted that adjusting the amount of lithium salt in the conductive polymer would have been within the skill of an ordinary artisan depending on the desired amount of lithium ion conductivity.
Regarding claim 14, the first porous layer contains less than 0.0001 parts by weight of inorganic fine particles with respect to the total weight of the first porous layer, it is noted that the first porous layer of Chang does not contain inorganic fine particles.
Regarding claim 16, a ratio of a thickness of the first porous layer to a thickness of the second porous layer is from 1:1.1 to 1:20 [0122].
Regarding claim 17, the thickness of the first porous layer is from 0.1 μm 10 μm, and the thickness of the second porous layer is from 5 μm to 30 μm [0031, 0035]. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990). See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 1, Chang discloses a second porous layer comprising inorganic particles, but does not disclose wherein the second porous layer contains a binder resin. Lee teaches an inorganic coating layer between a positive electrode and a negative electrode. The inorganic coating has a binder polymer has a glass transition temperature Tg that is as low as possible. This is because such a binder polymer could improve the mechanical property such as flexibility, elasticity and the like of the inorganic coating layer. The second binder polymer serves to improve the adhesiveness between the inorganic particles and the adhesiveness between the inorganic coating layer and an electrode adhesion layer [0041].
Regarding claim 15, the binder resin comprises at least one of polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro propylene, polyvinylidene fluoride-trichloroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoro ethylene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene oxide, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butylate, cellulose acetate propionate, cyanoethyl pullulan, cyanoethyl polyvinyl alcohol, cyanoethyl cellulose, cyanoethyl sucrose, pullulan, carboxyl methyl cellulose, acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer, polyurethane, polyacrylic acid, polyimide, or styrene butadiene rubber ([0045] of Lee).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add a binder to the inorganic coating of Change, as taught by Lee, for the benefit of improving adhesiveness between the inorganic particles, as well as to the electrode.
Regarding claim 1, Chang discloses wherein the second porous layer contains inorganic particles, but does not disclose inorganic fine particles. Lee teaches an inorganic coating layer between a positive electrode and a negative electrode. It is preferable that the size of the inorganic particle has a range of 0.01 to 10 μm, if possible, for formation of a coating layer with uniform thickness and a suitable porosity. If the size of the inorganic particle is less than 0.01 μm, the specific surface area will increase, making it difficult to adjust the property of the inorganic coating layer, and if the size of the inorganic particle exceeds 10 μm, the thickness of the inorganic coating layer manufactured with the same solid content will increase, deteriorating the mechanical property, and due to the excessively large pore size, the possibility of causing internal short circuit during battery charging and discharging will increase [0039].
Regarding claim 5, the inorganic fine particles include a particle size of 10 nm to 10 μm ([0039] of Lee).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the inorganic particles of Change as taught by Lee for the benefit of adjusting the thickness of the layer.
Regarding claim 7, the second porous layer contains from 50 parts by weight to 3000 parts by weight of the inorganic fine particles with respect to 100 parts by weight of the binder resin, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to adjust the amounts of the inorganic particles and the binder depending on the desire adhesiveness, as well as strength to prevent short circuit.
Claims 12, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (US 2021/0305621) in view of Lee (US 2018/0166682) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Park (US 2020/0411907).
Chang modified by Lee does not disclose a nitrile-based compound in the first porous layer. Chang discloses that the first layer consists of ion conductive polymeric electrolyte [0092, 0094, 0095]. Park teaches that the ion conductive electrolyte may be a liquid, gel, or solid phase. The form of the ion conductive electrolyte may be determined depending on the characteristics of the ion conductive polymer [0055]. The liquid phase or gel phase electrolyte solution contained in the liquid phase or gel phase ion conductive electrolyte may further include a lithium salt, a non-aqueous solvent, and additionally an additive [0056]. As a non-aqueous solvent contained in the ion conductive electrolyte, those conventionally used in the electrolyte solution for the lithium secondary battery may be used without limitation, and for example, ether
Regarding claim 12, the first porous layer includes at least one of a nitrile-based compound or an ether-based compound [0058, 0061].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add an ester-based compound to the first porous layer of Chang modified by Lee, as taught by Park, for the benefit of making the first porous layer more conductive.
Regarding claim 13, the first porous layer contains from 50 parts by weight to 1000 parts by weight of at least one of the nitrile-based compound or the ether-based compound, and a lithium salt with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ion conductive polymer, Park teaches since the electrically conductive material contained in the electrically conductive matrix is uniformly distributed while forming a three-dimensional structure throughout the electrically conductive matrix, the protective layer may be able to exhibit a uniform electrical conductivity [0051].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to adjust the amounts of the ether compound of Park and the lithium salt of Chang for the benefit of forming a good conductive polymer electrolyte.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CYNTHIA KYUNG SOO WALLS whose telephone number is (571)272-8699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F until 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CYNTHIA K WALLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
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