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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5-11-2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3, 8, 11-13 and 17-19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of an anode-free, sodium metal secondary battery comprising a negative electrode plate; a positive electrode comprising a polyanionic compound and an electrolyte solution comprising a sodium salt, an ether solvent and a forming additive comprising a sulfonate ester compound in the reply filed on 8-18-2025 and 10-16-2025 are acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 4-6 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. There is no support for the secondary battery comprising an electrolyte comprising a film-forming additive comprising a sulfonate ester compound and further comprising one or more of a sulfate ester compound and a sulfite ester compound.
Claims 8-10 are 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 8 is rejected because the claim cannot comprise a sulfonate ester compound comprising 1,3-propane sultone.
Claim 9 is rejected because it is unclear what the phrase “or R7 and R8, oxygen linked thereto, and sulfur linked to the oxygen jointly form a 5- or 6-membered ring; the ring includes a double bond”. Claim 9 is rejected because it is unclear how “the hydrogen on the ring is optionally substituted by …” because R7 and R8 comprise a C1-C6 alkyl. Claim 9 is rejected because the substituted C1-C6 alkyl of the R7 and R8 have not be defined. Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3-6, 8-13 and 17-19 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 is objected because the claims should cite “An anode-free sodium metal secondary battery comprising: a negative electrode plate comprising a current collector and does not comprise a negative active material; … in the electrolyte solution is 0.5 wt% to 2 wt%, the film-forming additive is selected from the group consisting of one or more of 3-fluoro-1,3-propane sultone (FPS…) and 1-methyl-1,3-propane sultone (2,4-BS, …), and wherein the film resistance of …”. Claims 3-6 and 8-13 are objected to because the claims should cite “The anode-free sodium metal secondary battery according to claim …, wherein…”. Claim 4 is objected to because the claim should cite “one or more of a sulfate ester compound or a sulfite compound”. Claim 5 is objected to because the claim should cite “selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, … and …”. Claim 6 is objected to because the claim should cite “selected from the group consisting of one or more of ethylene sulfate, …and 4-cyanoethylene sulfate”. Claim 10 is objected to because the claim should cite “selected from the group consisting of one or more of 1,3 propylene sulfite, …and diethyl sulfite”. Claim 17 is objected because the claim should cite “A battery module comprising: an anode-free sodium metal secondary battery, wherein the secondary battery comprises: a negative electrode plate; … in the electrolyte solution is 0.5 wt% to 2 wt%, the film-forming additive is selected from the group consisting of one or more of 3-fluoro-1,3-propane sultone (FPS…) and 1-methyl-1,3-propane sultone (2,4-BS, …), and wherein the film resistance of …”. Claim 18 is objected because the claim should cite “A battery pack comprising: at least one battery module, wherein the at least one battery module includes an anode-free sodium metal secondary battery, wherein the secondary battery comprises: a negative electrode plate; … in the electrolyte solution is 0.5 wt% to 2 wt%, the film-forming additive is selected from the group consisting of one or more of 3-fluoro-1,3-propane sultone (FPS…) and 1-methyl-1,3-propane sultone (2,4-BS, …), and wherein the film resistance of …”. Claim 19 is objected to because the claim should cite “An electrical device comprising at least one of the anode-free sodium metal secondary battery according to claim 1”. Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3, 11-13 and 17-19 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome objection to informalities.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (CN 108134047, machine translation) teaches in claims 1-2, a positive active electrode material in a sodium ion battery comprises a polyanionic compound, etc. Zhang et al. teaches in claim 7, wherein the polyanionic compound comprises Na4Fe3(PO4)2P2O7, Na3V2(PO4)3 [NVP], NaFePO4, Na2FeP2O, etc. Zhang et al. teaches a sodium battery comprising an negative electrode plate; a positive plate comprising an anode material comprising sodium vanadium phosphate [NVP] and an electrolyte solution comprising 1M NaClO4; 1:1 EC:DEC and 2 wt% of FEC.
Wright et al. (WO 2022/238985) teaches in claim 14, an anode-free sodium cell comprising: a cathode comprising one or more sodium-containing active materials; an anode current collector and a non-aqueous electrolyte composition according to any one of claims 1-13. Wright et al. teaches in claim 16, where the sodium-containing active materials can be polyanionic compounds, etc. Wright et al. teaches in claim 1, where the electrolyte composition comprising a sodium containing salts, a solvent comprising a glyme-based solvent and an additive comprising a sulfur-containing compound in an amount of no greater than about 10% by weight of the solvent and teaches in claims 4-5, where the sulfur-containing compound can comprise 1,3-propane sultone. Wright et al. teaches in Table 2, where the additives are present in an amount of less than 2 wt%. Wright et al. teaches that the sodium-containing salts can be NaPF6, NaBF4, etc. in an amount of 1.5 M as shown in Table 2. Li et al. (CN 114243005, translation) teaches claims 1 and 15, a secondary battery which is one of a sodium ion battery comprising a cathode comprising at least one iron-based polyanionic compound and an electrolyte solution comprising an ether solvent, a sodium salt at a concentration of 0.01-10M. Li et al. teaches in Example 10, a battery comprising a cathode comprising Na4Fe3(PO4)2P2O7 coated on a current collector. Li et al. teaches that the solvent comprises diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, etc. and the sodium salt comprises sodium perchlorate, etc. Li et al. teaches that the iron-based polyanionic compound is Na4Fe3(PO4)2PO7, Na2FePO4F, Na2FeP2O7, NaFePO4, etc. Li et al. teaches that the electrolyte solution further comprises one or more of sultones, etc. as a film-forming additive to facilitate the formation of a uniform SEI film. Zeng (CN 113437356, machine translation) teaches a battery comprising a polyanionic compound comprising sodium vanadium phosphate [Na3V2(PO4)3], Na4Fe3(PO4)2P2O7, NaFePO4, etc. Zeng teaches that the battery comprises an electrolyte solution comprising a sodium salt and an organic solvent, with the organic solvent can be selected from the group consisting of ethylene carbonate, diethyl carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl ether, diglyme, triethylene glycol dimethyl ether, tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether, methyl tertiary butyl ether, where an ether solvent is preferably included for adjusting sodium ion deposition shape so as to inhibit a large amount of growth of sodium dendritic crystal. Zeng teaches that the sodium salt can comprise sodium hexafluorophosphate, sodium tetrafluoroborate, sodium perchlorate, etc. Zeng teaches in Embodiment 1, a battery comprising a positive electrode comprising a positive active material comprising Na4Fe3(PO4)2PO7 coated on a current collector; a current collector and an electrolyte solution comprising 1 M NaPF6 in diglyme and tetraglycol dimethyl.
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/LAURA S. WEINER/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1723
/Laura Weiner/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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