DETAILED ACTION
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 required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 7/12/24 were filed on 7/12/24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawing is objected to because the label “Fig. 1” should be changed “the FIGURE”. According to 37 CFR 1.84(u)(1), “Where only a single view is used in an application to illustrate the claimed invention, it must not be numbered and the abbreviation "FIG." must not appear”.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: “Fig. 1” should be changed to “The Figure”. Appropriate correction 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 1-9 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takezawa et al (WO 2018/221024 A1) using (US 2020/0091515) as an equivalent English translation, in view of Choi et al (US 2018/0145322).
Regarding claims 1-9 and 12, Takezawa et al discloses a positive electrode for a lithium secondary battery, the positive electrode comprising a positive electrode current collector “30”; a second positive electrode mixture layer “32b” (first active material layer) formed on the positive electrode current collector; and a first positive electrode mixture layer “32a” (second active material layer) formed on the second positive electrode mixture layer,
wherein the first and second positive electrode mixture layers include active materials comprising LiNi0.88Co-0.09Al0.03O2 (active material A) having an average particle size of 8.5 um (D50 particle size) and LiNi0.35Co-0.35Mn0.30O2 (active material B) having an average particle size of 4.2 um (D50 particle size),
a mass ratio (weight ratio) of the active material A : the active material B in the second positive electrode mixture layer (first active material layer) that is 70:30 ([0021],[0055],[0056]);
wherein the active material A and the active material B are homogeneous positive electrode active materials;
wherein the homogeneous positive electrode active material comprises lithium-manganese oxides, lithium-cobalt oxides, lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides, or lithium-nickel-cobalt-transition metal (M) oxide, wherein M is Al ([0024],[0030],[0033]);
wherein the active material B comprises the homogeneous positive electrode active compounds of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides ([0055]);
wherein a ratio of the thickness of the first positive electrode mixture layer (second active material layer) to the total thickness of the positive electrode mixture layers is 50% which corresponds the first positive electrode mixture layer and the second positive electrode mixture layer having the same thickness and accordingly a loading capacity deviation between the first positive electrode mixture layer and the second positive electrode mixture layer that is 0% ([0041]).
However, Takezawa et al does not expressly teach the first and second active material layers are different from each other in term of a weight ratio of the active material A : the active material B, and a ratio of the active material A in the second active material layer is higher than that in the first active material layer, the weight ratio of the active material A : the active material B in the second active material layer is higher than 70:30 and 95:5 or less (claim 1); wherein the weight ratio of the active material A : the active material B in the second active material layer is 80:20 to 90:10 (claim 3); wherein the active material A and the active material B comprises homogeneous positive electrode active compounds of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides (claim 8).
Choi et al discloses a cathode (second active material layer) including a composite cathode active material including a large diameter LiNi0.85Co0.1Mn0.05O2 (active material A) having an average particle diameter (D50) of about 14 um and a small diameter Li1.17Ni0.21Co0.08Mn0.54O2 (active material B) having an average particle diameter (D50) of about 2 um, which were mixed at a weight ratio of about 90:10, wherein the active material A and the active material B comprise the homogeneous positive electrode active compounds of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides ([0061],[0109]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Takezawa positive electrode to substitute a composite cathode active material (second active material layer) including a large diameter LiNi0.85Co0.1Mn0.05O2 (active material A / homogeneous positive electrode active compounds of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides) having an average particle diameter (D50) of about 14 um and a small diameter Li1.17Ni0.21Co0.08Mn0.54O2 (active material B / homogeneous positive electrode active compounds of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides) having an average particle diameter (D50) of about 2 um, that were mixed at a weight ratio of about 90:10 for the NCA88 of the first positive electrode mixture layer in order to provide a composite active material capable of exhibiting a high capacity at a relatively low voltage and capable of preventing deterioration in the performance of the battery ([0006]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takezawa et al (WO 2018/221024 A1) in view of Choi et al (US 2018/0145322) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu et al (US 2017/0263929).
However, Takezawa et al as modified by Choi et al does not expressly teach each of the first and second active material layers having a loading capacity of 12 mg/cm2 to 16 mg/cm2.
Wu et al discloses a cathode (first/second active material layers) having an active material loading (loading capacity) of approximately 15 mg/cm2 ([0258]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Takezawa/Choi positive electrode to include each of the first and second active material layers having a loading capacity of 15 mg/cm2 in order to provide improved cycle life performance of the batteries over extended cycling ([0262]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takezawa et al (WO 2018/221024 A1) in view of Choi et al (US 2018/0145322) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lin et al (US 2019/0267664).
However, Takezawa et al as modified by Choi et al does not expressly teach each of the first and second active material layers having a thickness of 35 um to 45 um.
Lin et al discloses a thickness of a first active material layer that needs to be controlled to 3 um-40 um ([0029]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Takezawa/Choi positive electrode to include each of the first and second active material layers having a thickness of 40 um in order to control the thickness of the active material layers to provide high energy density of the lithium-ion battery ([0029]).
Conclusion
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/T.S.C/Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 9/28/2026
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