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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
The Drawings filed 5/12/2026 are approved by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claims 3 and 6 each recites a limitation “wherein the combination of lithium carbonate, lithium nitrate, and lithium sulfate is replaced by lithium carbonate or lithium nitrate”. This limitation is improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends (claim 1, which requires a combination of lithium carbonate, lithium nitrate, and lithium sulfate). By replacing the combination of lithium carbonate, lithium nitrate, and lithium sulfate with lithium carbonate or lithium nitrate, the scope of claim is broadened.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 are allowed over the prior art.
CN 112391671 discloses a method for reconstructing ternary single-crystal materials from waste ternary polycrystalline materials. Specifically, it discloses mixing waste ternary polycrystalline materials with an organic mixed solvent to form a slurry, ultrasonically treating it to remove part of the solvent, and obtaining a slurry of waste ternary polycrystalline materials; placing the slurry of waste ternary polycrystalline materials in a drum mixer for mixing, atomizing and spraying lithium manganese oxide seed slurry into the drum mixer to obtain the material to be repaired; and subjecting the material to be repaired to multi-stage calcination in an air atmosphere to obtain ternary single-crystal materials.
CN114196829 discloses a method for regeneration of ternary single-crystal materials from waste ternary polycrystalline materials. Specifically, it discloses a retired lithium-ion battery nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode material is crushed to obtain seed crystals, wherein the particle size of the seed crystals is D50<500nm; a mixed solution containing nickel, cobalt and manganese sources is mixed evenly with seed crystals, and a precipitant and a complexing agent are added to carry out a coprecipitation reaction to obtain a single-crystal nickel-cobalt-manganese material precursor; after uniformly mixing the single-crystal nickel-cobalt-manganese material precursor with the lithium source, calcination is performed to obtain the single-crystal cathode material.
The prior art fails to disclose a method for regeneration of ternary single-crystal materials from waste ternary polycrystalline materials as claimed. Specifically, the prior art fails to disclose a method wherein nickel stearate and a lithium salt are mixed with the waste polycrystalline ternary cathode material and vacuum calcine the mixture to obtain a regenerated single crystal ternary cathode material. The method of the invention not only can compensate the lithium loss of the waste single crystal ternary positive electrode material, but also converts the insoluble residual Ni on the surface of the single crystal material in the process of nickel stearate " burst " into LiNiO2 capable of providing discharge capacity, so that the regenerated positive electrode material exhibits more excellent electrochemical performance. The method of the invention is simple and easy to operate, has low requirement for regeneration reaction temperature, does not need to calcine at high temperature for a long time and can perform two processes of splitting the polycrystal into single crystal and supplementing lithium at the same time, has low energy consumption and is easy to popularize.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAIDUNG D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5455. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 10a-3p.
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/HAIDUNG D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
7/17/2026
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