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 § 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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Zhang et al. (Hierarchically porous MXene decorated carbon coated LiFePO4 as cathode material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 876 (2021) 160210, Available online 3 May 2021) in view of Endo et al. (US 20240021794, PCT filed 10/4/2021).
2. Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches a cathode material for a lithium ion battery, wherein the cathode material is a Ti3C2 MXene-coated lithium iron phosphate material (In this work, hierarchically porous Ti3C2Tx MXene decorated LFP@C (LFP@C/MXene) composite was successfully synthesized, abstract), specifically Ti3C2 MXene being uniformly coated (coat LFP evenly, page 2 right column, third paragraph) on surfaces of lithium iron phosphate nanoparticles (Hierarchically porous MXene decorated carbon coated LiFePO4 as cathode material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, title; LiFePO4 (LFP) nanoparticles were well crystallized and entirely interconnected by MXene sheets which form a well integrated nanostructure, page 5 left column, first paragraph)) and forming an electrically conductive mesh (see Figure 3).
3. They are silent about lithium manganese iron phosphate
4. Endo teaches lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) or lithium manganese phosphate (LiMnPO.sub.4), lithium manganese iron phosphate (LiFexMn(1−x)PO4 (0≤x≤1) as alternative positive electrode active materials for the benefit of increasing the charge-discharge capacity of a battery [0027].
5. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang with Endo’s teachings of a lithium manganese iron phosphate (LiFexMn(1−x)PO4 (0≤x≤1) for the benefit of increasing the charge-discharge capacity of a battery.
6 Regarding claim 2, Zhang teaches wherein the preparation method comprises adding a phosphorus source and a lithium source to a deionized water/PEG solution, to form a suspension A (Quantitative amounts of LiOH, H3PO4 and FeSO4 were used as the source of lithium, phosphorus and iron. First, 0.55 g LiOH and 2.08 g FeSO4 were dissolved in 10 mL of ethylene glycol (EG) solvent, respectively, page 2, right column, second paragraph); adding an iron source, an antioxidant, and Ti3C2 MXene to deionized water to form a suspension B (Subsequently, 1.73 g H3PO4 was slowly added into the LiOH solution, then the prepared FeSO4 solution was introduced to the above mixture to form a precursor by stirring for another 20 min. Afterward, the obtained precursor so lution was transferred into a 100 mL Teflon-lined stainless-steel autoclave and kept at 180 °C for 18 h. The final products were wa shed with ethanol and deionized water several times to get rid of the remaining ions and then moved to an oven kept at 60 ℃ for 12 h to obtain LFP nanoplates, page 2, right column, second paragraph); adding the suspension B to the suspension A dropwise under continuous stirring, to form a mixed solution (The as-obtained LFP@C nanoplates (0.2 g) were re-dispersed into 50 mL deionized water with 20 mg CTAB (Hexadecyl trimethyl am monium Bromide) (C₁₉H₄₂BrN) under intense stirring at room tem perature, and then different volume of Ti3C2Tx MXene suspension (1 mg mL−1) was added dropwise. page 2, right column, last paragraph); then transferring the mixed solution to a hydrothermal reactor to maintain the temperature for a period of time at a certain temperature; and after the reaction is complete, centrifugally separating a product, then washing and oven-drying same, and finally annealing the dried product in an atmosphere furnace to obtain the Ti3C2 MXene-coated lithium iron phosphate material (After heating at 700 °C for 4 h under nitrogen atmosphere, the LFP@C nanoplates were acquired. When citric acid and ethylene glycol were introduced into the pure LFP system, it will cause an esterification reaction and promote polyester network to coat LFP evenly which is transferred into uniform carbon layer after annealing….For another 30 min, the blended mixture was centrifuged and finally freeze-dried to generate LFP@C/ MXene composites. Page 2 right column to 3, left column, first paragraph).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-14 are allowable over the prior art of record.
Relevant Prior Art
Li et al. (Enhanced lithium and electron diffusion of LiFePO4 cathode with two-dimensional Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets), J Mater Sci (2018) 53:11078–11090.
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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