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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. EP23383374.8, filed on 12/22/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the metallic coating" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 and 11-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: novel and inventive over prior art of record. The closest prior art Gojgić et al. (Applied Catalysis A, General 663 ‘2023’ 119312) discloses a Ni-based porous electrode for water electrolysis comprising: a macroporous substrate (nickel foam) having a porosity of 70-90% and pore size of 450 µm – 3.2 mm coated with a layer of Ni-Sn alloy.
Gojgić teaches that metal foams can be made by vapor phase deposition or electrodeposition of a metal onto polymer foam precursor (Ni, Ti), followed by removal of the polymer matrix.
Wu et al. (International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, ‘2021’, Vol. 46, Issue 53, pp. 26930-26939) discloses Ni–Fe–Sn electrocatalyst supported on 3 mm thick nickel foam.
Zachanska et al. (JOURNAL OF APPLIED ELECTROCHEMISTRY, ‘2020’, vol. 50, no. 9, pages 959-971) discloses nickel-based metallic nanocoatings (N-W) were deposited on pure nickel foam (1500 µm thick).
Huo et al. (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, vol. 45, no. 7, pages 4015-4025 ‘2020’) discloses an electrode comprising Ni2P electrodeposited on carbon cloth.
Fu et al. (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 259– 267) discloses a dual layer c-NiP2/m-NiP2 catalyst on carbon cloth (CC), where the thickness of CC is 0.5 µm and the thickness of the two catalyst layers is 5 nm.
Paserin et al. (Adv. Eng. Mater. 2004, 6, 6, 454) discloses a method of making a nickel foam by depositing nickel on a polyurethane foam with pores ranging from 450 µm to 3200 µm with a nominal thickness up to 3 mm, after polymer is removed at high temperature.
Benczur-ürmössy (US 4301218 A) discloses a bi-porous Raney-nickel electrode comprising metalized fibrous substrate having a thickness of 1-6 mm of the fibrous substate with 0.3-0.7 g per cm3 or the fibrous substrate impregnated with 20 µm grain size nickel powder deep into the volume of the fibrous substrate.
However, the independent claims 1 and 13 require macroporous substrate thickness of 100 to 1500 µm, a first metal layer of 100 nm to 20 µm thick and the second metal layer with thickness of 300 nm to 2 µm with pore sizes from 2 nm to 100 nm.
The prior art of record does not disclose nor suggest the instantly claimed invention as a whole.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Wojciech Haske whose telephone number is (571)272-5666. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30 am - 6:00 pm.
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, James Lin can be reached at 571-272-8902. 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.
/WOJCIECH HASKE/Examiner, Art Unit 1794