DETAILED ACTIONNotice 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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan et al. (CN113500041A) in view of Fang et al. (CN107204460A).
With regard to Claims 1-4 and 11-12, Wan teaches a method for washing a nickel cobalt manganese ternary precursor (Paragraph 0037), comprising washing the ternary precursor through an alkali hydroxide washing procedure and an alcohol washing procedure in sequence, wherein the alcohol used is ethanol (Paragraph 0057).
Wan is silent to the method wherein the alcohol washing is performed in at least two stages, and alcohol concentration of an alcohol solution used in the alcohol washing successively increases.
Fang, in a process for preparing a ternary cathode material without crystal defects, teaches gradient washing of the ternary precursor including with ethanol of 60-70% concentration, 10-30% concentration, and anhydrous, or near pure, ethanol (Paragraphs 0022-0024). The washing stage of 10-30% ethanol (construed as the first-stage alcohol washing) and of anhydrous ethanol (construed as the second-stage alcohol washing) shows a successive increase in ethanol concentration across washing stages.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention for Wan to teach gradient washing of the ternary precursor, wherein alcohol concentration of an alcohol solution used in the alcohol washing successively increases, as taught in Fang, as gradient washing allows for targeted dissolution and removal of impurities from the ternary precursor (Paragraph 0025).
With regard to Claim 7, Fang teaches gradient washing with anhydrous ethanol at 50-60 °C (Paragraph 0024).
With regard to Claim 9, Wan teaches drying, sieving and mixing the ternary precursor to obtain a final product of ternary precursor (Paragraphs 0076-0077; The washed ternary precursors were first dynamically dried under stirring and aeration… After dynamic drying, the precursors were put into an oven for static drying… The dried ternary precursors were sequentially subjected to 300-mesh sieving).
With regard to Claim 10, Wan teaches a water washing procedure between the alkali washing and the alcohol washing (Paragraph 0010, This invention employs three washing processes—alkali washing, water washing, and volatile detergent washing—to effectively improve the washing effect; Paragraph 0057).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 and 8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Wan and Fang do not teach or suggest, alone or in combination, the method for washing the ternary precursor wherein the first-stage alcohol washing is carried out at a temperature of 40°C-85°C and for a duration of 8 min-200 min, and the method wherein the second-stage alcohol washing is carried out for a duration of 1 min-30 min.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Buchman et al. (“Nickel enrichment of next-generation NMC nanomaterials alters material stability, causing unexpected dissolution behavior and observed toxicity to S. oneidensis MR-1 and D. magna”) teaches exposure of bacteria to lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide comprising washing bacteria with successively increasing concentrations of ethanol. The washing step is not applied to a ternary precursor.
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/A.Y.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/RICHARD M RUMP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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