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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I and Species B, Figure 2, claims 1-4, 7, and 17 in the reply filed on 9/8/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 5, 6, 8-16, 18-20 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions.
Priority
Acknowledgement has been made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 USC 119 (a-d). The certified copy has been filed on 5/21/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed 5/21/2024 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings received 5/21/2024 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
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.
Claim 1-4, 7, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
In claim 1, the limitation “preferably” is unclear as to whether it is meant to positively recite “PVDF and/or PTFE” or not.
Clarification is required.
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, 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hippchen (WO 2020/182433, using US 2022/0158199 for citation below) in view of Ono (JP 2004-363056).
Regarding claim 1, Hippchen discloses a method for producing a gas diffusion layer for a fuel cell or an electrolyzer, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
mixing elongated, electrically and thermally conductive fibers, electrically and thermally conductive conductivity particles, a binder, preferably PVDF and/or PTFE, for bonding the fibers and the conductivity particles (Abstract),
by means of at least one solvent to form at least one gas diffusion layer mixture [0038],
providing a carrier body 36,
arranging at least one layer of the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture 38 on an upper face of the carrier body 36 (fig. 3).
Regarding claim 1, Hippchen does not disclose removing the solvent from the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture for producing the gas diffusion layer on the upper face of the carrier body. Ono teaches making a fuel cell electrode comprising catalyst fine particles carried on conductive carbon carrier (see Abstract and [0017]) by dispersing the catalyst fine particles in a solution and evaporating to dryness [0023]. The conditions for evaporation to dryness are not particularly limited, and are appropriately determined according to the type of the solvent used in the catalyst metal compound solution, for example, water, alcohols, and the like. In this case, as in Example 1 described below, heating may be continued at about 20 to 90 ° C. while appropriately stirring the mixed solution until the water (solvent component) is completely evaporated. If the temperature is lower than 20 ° C., a long life is required and it is uneconomic. If the temperature is higher than 90 ° C., undesired reactions may proceed, and the solvent may rapidly evaporate. May be entrained by volatile gases. Evaporation to dryness may be carried out at normal pressure or under reduced pressure. If the sample obtained by evaporation to dryness is in a bulk form, it is desirable to appropriately pulverize the sample before performing the step of applying heat treatment [0029].
Regarding claim 2, Ono teaches to remove the solvent from the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture, the arranged gas diffusion layer mixture is dried, wherein a temperature for drying the gas diffusion layer mixture does not exceed 140°C [0029].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to evaporate the solvent of Hippchen between 20 C and 90 C, as taught by Ono depending on the solvent, for the benefit of preventing the solvent from rapid evaporation, and hence leading to a more uniform layer formation.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hippchen (WO 2020/182433, using US 2022/0158199 for citation below) in view of Ono (JP 2004-363056) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Yoshikawa (JP 2011-165525).
Regarding claim 3, Hippchen modified by Ono does not teach the fibers and the conductivity particles are mixed to form a conductivity mixture by means of a solvent, and the binder is mixed with a solvent to form a binder mixture, wherein subsequently the conductivity mixture and the binder mixture are mixed to form the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture. Yoshikawa teaches a base material for gas diffusion electrode can be manufactured in a relatively simple method. The method includes: a powder material generation step (drying step S3, granulation step S4) of drying a slurry in which carbon fiber, a conductive particle, and an acrylic silicon-based resin are mixed and producing a powder-shaped material in which a carbon particle and an acrylic silicon-based resin are attached to the carbon fiber. See Abstract. In FIG. 4, first, in the premixing step S1, the carbon fiber 26, the carbon fine particles 28, and the solvent SLV weighed so as to have a preset ratio are sequentially mixed in an appropriate mixing container. Processing is executed. At this time, the carbon fibers 26 are mixed so as to be uniformly dispersed in the electrode substrate slurry SLR. In this mixing process, for example, stirring is performed for about 5 minutes at a rotational speed of about 300 (rpm). In the premixing step S1, stirring is performed for about 10 minutes using ultrasonic waves as necessary for dispersing the carbon fibers 26 and the carbon fine particles 28. Next, in the slurry manufacturing step (mixing step) S2, the water-soluble acrylic silicone resin 30 containing about 50% solids by weight and the solvent SLV containing about 50% water by weight are mixed with the mixing container. A mixing process is performed to mix them while being added to the inside. In this mixing process, for example, stirring is performed for about 270 minutes at a rotational speed of about 300 (rpm). As a result, an electrode substrate slurry SLR is obtained. The gas diffusion electrode base materials 18 and 20 are composed of an acrylic silicon resin 30, carbon fibers 26, and carbon fine particles 28 left after the solvent is volatilized or the water is evaporated from the electrode base material slurry SLR (page 5 of translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form and conductive carbon mixture and a binder mixture, and mix the two mixtures of Hippchen modified by Ono, as taught by Yoshikawa, for the benefit of dispersing each component thoroughly before mixing the mixture.
Claims 4, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hippchen (WO 2020/182433, using US 2022/0158199 for citation below) in view of Ono (JP 2004-363056) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Satou (US 2012/0094215).
Regarding claim 4, to arrange the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture on the upper face of the carrier body, a solid portion of the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture is 5 to 50 weight percent relative to a total weight of the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture. Regarding claim 17, to arrange the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture on the upper face of the carrier body, the solid portion of the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture is 15 to 30 weight percent, relative to the total weight of the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture.
Satou teaches a production method for the gas diffusion electrode in which the following method and the like are used: (1) the electrically conductive material, the ion conductive material and a solvent are mixed with each other to prepare an ink for the hydrophilic porous layer, and then this is applied on a base material, followed by being dried to form the hydrophilic porous layer [0096]. Solvent or dissolving agent in the present specification includes a dispersion medium in which solid contents such as binder, the electrically conductive material and the like are to be dispersed, i.e., all liquid contents other than solid contents [0099]. A solid content rate of the ink for the hydrophilic porous layer (a rate of the solid content relative to whole mass of the hydrophilic porous layer) is not particularly limited, in which it is normally about 5 to 20 mass % from the viewpoints of improving a forming efficiency of the porous layer and a stability of the ink [0100].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to form the solid content of Hippchen modified by Ono in an amount of 5 to 20 mass%, as taught by Satou, for the benefit of forming a stable slurry.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hippchen (WO 2020/182433, using US 2022/0158199 for citation below) in view of Ono (JP 2004-363056) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Endo (JP 2001-135340).
Regarding claim 7, Hippchen modified by Ono does not teach upon mixing the fibers, conductivity particles and the binder to produce the at least one gas diffusion layer mixture, pore formers for forming pores in the gas diffusion layer and/or radical scavengers for inactivating radicals and/or stability particles for mechanically stabilizing the gas diffusion are additionally added. Endo teaches forming an fuel cell electrode, after a catalyst powder in which a platinum group metal is supported on a catalyst carrier such as activated carbon is subjected to a surface treatment with the present silane compound, an ion exchange resin and, if necessary, a pore-forming agent, A mixture can be formed by adding a thickener, a diluting solvent, and the like, and can be formed by applying an existing method such as spraying, coating, or filtering (page 6 of translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to add a pore forming agent to the gas diffusion layer of Hippchen modified by Ono after mixing the fibers, conductivity particles and the binder, as taught by Endo, for the benefit of forming pores to ensure that fuel cell reactants reach the fuel cell 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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