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 .
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) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR 20210024815 (KR ‘815).
As to Claims 1 and 2, KR ‘815 discloses a perovskite compound with the formula of CsPb(1-a)SnaI(b-3)Brb where a is greater than or equal to 0.2 and less than 1 and b is greater than 0 and less than 3 (Abstract). The subscripts above overlap the x and y subscript ranges of the instant claim and where A of the instant claim is selected to be Cs.
As to Claims 3 and 4, the Examiner respectfully submits the prior art would inherently display the claimed characteristic due to the similarity of the claimed compound and the prior art compound.
As to Claim 5, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claim 6, the reference discloses an example compound of CsPb0.4Sn0.6I2.6Br0.4 wherein the corresponding values x of 0.6 and y of 2.6 would satisfy the claimed relationship.
As to Claim 7, the reference discloses the compound as a light absorbing layer (Claim 5 of the reference).
As to Claims 8-16, see discussion of preceding claims.
Claim(s) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhu et al., "Structural, Electronic, Stability, and Optical Properties of CsPb₁-xSnxIBr₂ Perovskites: A First-Principles Investigation," The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 123, No. 33, August 2019, pp. 20476-20487 (Zhu et al.).
As to Claims 1 and 2, Zhu et al. discloses a perovskite with a formula of CsPb0.25Sn0.75IBr2 (Conclusions, pg. 20485) wherein the subscript values overlap the claimed ranges of x and y and A is selected to be Cs.
As to Claims 3 and 4, the band gap is predicted to be 1.7 eV depending on arrangement (Conclusions, pg. 20485).
As to Claim 5, see discussion of Claim 1 above.
As to Claim 6, the corresponding values of x as 0.75 and y as 2.0 would meet the claimed relationship between the values.
As to Claim 7, the compound is described as a light absorber material (Abstract).
As to Claims 8-16, see discussion of preceding claims.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by WO 2021/021911 (WO ‘911).
As to Claims 1 and 2, WO '911 discloses perovskite absorber materials for solar cells (para. 0003) which are comprised of compounds with a generic formula of Cs(SnxPb1-x)I3 wherein the band gap of the material is tunable between 1.3 and 1.7 eV depending upon composition of source materials (para. 0035). Specific examples include CsPbIBr2 and CsPbI3 (para. 0029) which read upon the x and y claimed ranges recited in Claims 1 and 2 and A being Cs.
As to Claim 3-5, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claims 7-13, see discussion of Claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAISON P THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-8917. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 9:00 am-3:30 pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Jones can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/J.P.T/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/jt/ 7/10/2026
/MARK KOPEC/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
Prosecution Insights