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 .
Summary
This is the initial Office Action based on the 18/773,938 application filed on 05/05/2025.
Claims 21-41 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 21-24 and 34-41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bonhomme et al. (US 2018/0198114).
Addressing claims 1-2, Bonhomme discloses a method of forming a battery, the method comprising:
providing a battery comprising a cathode [0188], an electrolyte [0188], and an anode [0188], wherein the anode comprises a current collector (copper foil, [0065, 0153]) and an active material on the current collector [0075], and wherein the active material comprises 50% or more silicon ([0075], between 30% to 80%, Examples 5 and 6 in paragraphs [0092 and 0094], respectively, include 76% silicon and 73.7% silicon by weight);
applying a formation process to the battery ([0132], initial formation, e.g. first charge, and initial cycling as the procedural equivalence to the step of applying a formation process to the battery; paragraph [0154] discloses initial discharge rate capability tests that also correspond to the step of applying a formation process to the battery); and
configuring one or both of the providing the battery and the formation process based on at least one battery performance criterion, wherein the at least one battery performance criterion comprise an expansion of the anode (paragraph [0153] discloses the inclusion of PAI in the formation process of the anode and battery, which corresponds to the step of providing a battery, reduces the expansion in plane of the silicon composite-based electrode films, which corresponds to expansion of the anode as at least one battery performance criterion), and wherein configuring the formation process comprises setting a charge rate used during a formation process to achieve a particular lateral expansion of the anode, the lateral expansion comprising an expansion of the anode in lateral directions perpendicular to the thickness of the anode (the teaching of Bonhomme does not have to teach the limitation “wherein configuring the formation process … the thickness of the anode” because the claim only requires configuring one of the providing the battery, which is taught by Bonhomme as discussed above, or the formation process; in other words, Bonhomme only needs to teach the step of configuring the providing of the battery based on at least one battery performance criterion, wherein the at least one battery performance criterion comprise an expansion of the anode in order to satisfy the subject matter of current claim).
Addressing claims 23-24, Bonhomme does not need to teach the particulars to the formation process in order to meet the limitations of claims 23-24 because claim 21, on which claims 23-24 depend, only requires Bonhomme to meet either configuring the step of providing the battery or the step of applying the formation process in order to meet the claimed subject matter. Bonhomme further discloses in paragraph [0153] that the lateral expansion of the anode is configured to be between essentially zero to about 10%, which includes the claimed lateral expansion values.
Addressing claim 34, Bonhomme discloses in paragraph [0110] that the attachment substance is absorbed into the porosity of the anode active material and once dried leaving the attachment substance within the porosity of the film. The attachment substance extend through the entire thickness of the film as a continuous phase, which satisfies the claimed step of applying the active material directly on the current collector without adhesive between the active material and the current collector. This is analogous to the method of current application where the binder material, such as PAI as the same substance as that of Bonhomme, is mixed with the anode active material and is deposited on the current collector (paragraphs [0040-0041, 0045] of the specification). The adhesive is part of the anode active material in teaching of Bonhomme similarly to that of current application.
Addressing claim 35, Bonhomme discloses in paragraph [0024] that the anode active material is rolled pressed onto the current collector.
Addressing claims 36-38, Bonhomme disclose in paragraph [0145] the selection of copper foil dimension, including the thickness of 8 µm, that meets the limitations of current claims. Additionally, Bonhomme discloses the lateral expansion of the anode that falls within the range of current application; therefore, the selection of the current collector material is attributed to the reduction in lateral expansion as claimed.
Addressing claims 40-41, Bonhomme discloses the selection of nickel as an alternative to copper as the current collector in paragraph [0177] that meets the limitations of current claims. Additionally, Bonhomme discloses the lateral expansion of the anode that falls within the range of current application; therefore, the selection of the current collector material is attributed to the reduction in lateral expansion as claimed.
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.
Claim(s) 25-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bonhomme et al. (US 2018/0198114) in view of Busacca et al. (US2019/0372150).
Addressing claims 25-33, Bonhomme is silent regarding the limitations of current claims.
Busacca discloses a method of forming a battery comprising applying a formation process to the batter [0009-0010]. The formation process includes configuring the formation process by setting a charge rate used during a formation process to achieve a particular lateral expansion of the anode [0009-0010], the lateral expansion comprising an expansion of the anode in lateral directions (widthwise direction shown in figs. 2A-2C) perpendicular to a thickness of the anode (figs. 2A-2C). Busacca further discloses the configuring the formation process by setting the charge rate such that the lateral expansion of the anode is higher than 1.5% or less than 3.5% as required by claims 24-27 and 31-33 (paragraph [0068] discloses the ratio of the width of the anode in the charged state WA1, which occurs during charging cycle of the formation process, to the width in the discharged state WA2 is 1.01:1 to 3:1, which includes values that fall within the claimed ranges of claims 25-27 and 31-33 or ). Paragraph [0121] discloses the formation process includes c-rate between 1 C and C/10, which includes the c-rate within the claimed range. Paragraphs [0099-0100] discloses the width of the anode in the charged state, or laterally expanded state, is preferably between 150 µm to 1000 µm and the width of the anode in the discharged state is between 60 µm to 1000 µm, which includes values of the width in the charged or laterally expanded state to the width in the discharged state that fall within the range of less than 1.0% as required by claims 28-30.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the method of Bonhomme with the formation process by setting the charge rate to exact the desired lateral expansion of the anode as disclosed by Busacca in order to improve the energy density, reliability and cycle life of batteries (Busacca, [0007]). Therefore, one would have arrived at the claimed lateral expansion range and charge rate range when perform routine experimentation with the lateral expansion rate and charge rate in the ranges disclosed by Busacca in order to optimize the energy density, reliability and cycle life of the batteries.
Conclusion
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 12/18/2025