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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cochet et al. (WO 2020/182327 A1).
Claim 1: Cochet teaches an electrode slurry mixture M1 comprising at least one organic redox-active polymer Predox1, at least one conductivity additive L1, at least one solvent Solv1, optionally at least one binder additive B1 and optionally at least one ionic liquid IL1 (page 5, lines 1-8), wherein a sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is one of suitable examples the binder additive B1 (page 15, line 4). The electrode slurry mixture M1 meets the claimed electrode material and the binder additive B1 meets the claimed cellulose ether C. Cochet teaches the organic redox-active polymer Predox1, is a polyimide which comprises n repeat units of formula (IV-9) (page 9, lines 10 and 14):
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wherein ArII represents a hydrocarbyl group having at least one aryl radical and having 6-30 carbon atoms (page 10, line 7) which meets the claimed alkylene;
wherein n is an integer ≥ 4 (page 9, line 15) which overlaps with the claimed ≥2;
wherein in the structure (IV-9) at least one aromatic carbon atom may be substituted by a group selected from alkyl, halogen, alkoxy and OH (page 10, lines 4-5); and
wherein the bond identified by (iv) in the structure (IV-9) binds in each case to the bond identified by (v) (page 9, lines 18-19).
Since structure (IV-9) is repeated at least 4 times (page 9, line 15) which would meet the claimed repeat units of the structural formula (I) comprised by the polymer Predox are identical.
Claim 4: Cochet teaches the ArII represents a hydrocarbyl group having at least one aryl radical and having 6-30 carbon atoms (page 10, line 7) which meets the claimed alkylene. Alkylene is broader because it does not have restriction on the number of carbon atoms and aliphatic.
Claim 5: Cochet teaches the total weight of all binder additives B1 based on the total weight of the redox polymer Predox1 is in the range of 0.001 % to 100% by weight (page 15, lines 11-13).
Claim 6: Cochet teaches carbon materials, electrically conductive polymers, metals, semimetals, (semi)metal compounds as suitable examples of the conductivity additive L1 (page 13, lines 27-29).
Claim 7: Cochet teaches the total weight of all conductivity additives L1 based on the total weight of the redox polymers Predox1 is in the range of 0.1 % to 1000% by weight (page 14, lines 15-17).
Claim 8: Cochet teaches the electrode slurry mixture M1 comprises at least one ionic liquid IL1 (page 15, line 20).
Claim 9: Cochet teaches the ionic liquid IL1 has a Q+A- structure (page 15, line 27), wherein A- an anion (page 17, line 11) and Q+ is a cation selected from the group consisting of (Q1), (Q2), (Q3), (Q4) and (Q5):
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Claim 10: Since the ionic liquid IL1 of Cochet is substantially identical to the claimed the ionic liquid IL1, the ionic liquid IL1 of Cochet would possess a melting point of ≤ 100 ̊C.
Claim 11: Cochet teaches the total molar amount of all ionic liquids IL1 based on the total molar amount of all organic redox-active polymers Predox1 is in the range from 0.1 % to 1000% by weight (page 18, lines 18-20).
Claim 12: Cochet teaches the solvent Solv1 can be water (Page 14, line 24).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cochet et al. (WO 2020/182327 A1).
Claim 13: Cochet teaches an electrode slurry (page 5, line 7) mixture M1 applied to a substrate S (page 4, lines 3-6) to obtain an electrode E1 (page 5, line 7-8). The electrode slurry mixture M1 meets the claimed electrode material, the substrate S meets the claimed substrate and the electrode E1 meets the claimed electrode. Cochet teaches the electrode slurry mixture M1 comprises at least one organic redox-active polymer Predox1, at least one conductivity additive L1, at least one solvent Solv1, optionally at least one binder additive B1 and optionally at least one ionic liquid IL1 (page 5, lines 1-8), wherein a sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is one of suitable examples the binder additive B1 (page 15, line 4). The binder additive B1 meets the claimed cellulose ether C. Cochet teaches the organic redox-active polymer Predox1, is a polyimide which comprises n repeat units of formula (IV-9) (page 9, lines 10 and 14):
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wherein ArII represents a hydrocarbyl group having at least one aryl radical and having 6-30 carbon atoms (page 10, line 7) which meets the claimed alkylene;
wherein n is an integer ≥ 4 (page 9, line 15) which overlaps with the claimed ≥2;
wherein in the structure (IV-9) at least one aromatic carbon atom may be substituted by a group selected from alkyl, halogen, alkoxy and OH (page 10, lines 4-5); and
wherein the bond identified by (iv) in the structure (IV-9) binds in each case to the bond identified by (v) (page 9, lines 18-19).
Since structure (IV-9) is repeated at least 4 times (page 9, line 15) which would meet the claimed repeat units of the structural formula (I) comprised by the polymer Predox are identical.
Claims 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cochet et al. (WO 2020/182327 A1).
Claim 14: Cochet teaches a shaped organic charge storage unit Lorg comprising a substrate S1 and an electrode E1 applied on the substrate S1 (page 36, lines 29-34). The shaped organic charge storage unit Lorg meets the claimed charge storage element, the substrate S1 meets the claimed substrate and the electrode E1 meets the claimed electrode. Cochet teaches the electrode E1 comprises at least one organic redox-active polymer Predox1, at least one conductivity additive L1, at least one solvent Solv1, optionally at least one binder additive B1 and optionally at least one ionic liquid IL1 (page 36, lines 34-36 and page 5, lines 1-8), wherein a sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is one of suitable examples the binder additive B1 (page 15, line 4). The binder additive B1 meets the claimed cellulose ether C. Cochet teaches the organic redox-active polymer Predox1, is a polyimide which comprises n repeat units of formula (IV-9) (page 9, lines 10 and 14):
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wherein ArII represents a hydrocarbyl group having at least one aryl radical and having 6-30 carbon atoms (page 10, line 7) which meets the claimed alkylene;
wherein n is an integer ≥ 4 (page 9, line 15) which overlaps with the claimed ≥2;
wherein in the structure (IV-9) at least one aromatic carbon atom may be substituted by a group selected from alkyl, halogen, alkoxy and OH (page 10, lines 4-5); and
wherein the bond identified by (iv) in the structure (IV-9) binds in each case to the bond identified by (v) (page 9, lines 18-19).
Since structure (IV-9) is repeated at least 4 times (page 9, line 15) which would meet the claimed repeat units of the structural formula (I) comprised by the polymer Predox are identical.
Claim 15: Cochet teaches the electrode E1 comprises at least one ionic liquid IL1 (page 36, line 36 and page 15, line 20).
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 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cochet et al. (WO 2020/182327 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Remizov et al. (US 2012/0313051 A1).
Cochet teaches the claimed invention as set forth above.
Claim 2: Cochet does not teach galactomannan as the binder additive B1. However, Remizov teaches a binder composition comprising galactomannan as a major component, wherein the galactomannan has the following chemical structure:
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, wherein this chemical structure meets the claimed formula (II) when radicals R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 are hydrogen; and at least one of the radicals R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 is different from hydrogen.
Claim 3: The claimed degree of etherification is from 1% to 99%. 99% etherification indicates an extensive modification resulting in major molecular structure alteration, and on the other hand 1% etherification indicates a slight modification resulting in almost indistinguishable molecular structure alteration. Therefore, the claimed 1% to 99% degree of etherification is very broad, thus, the limitation is non-limiting.
Pertinent Prior Arts
Wariishi et al. (US 2002/0015894 A1) and Kalb et al. (US 2008/0251759 A1).
Correspondence
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BS
September 15, 2026
/BETELHEM SHEWAREGED/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1785