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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/08/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claim 1 is amended. Claim 12 is canceled. Claims 1-11 & 13-21 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-6, 8-11, 13-15, 18 & 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun (US 2022/0293913 A1) in view of Park (US 2006/0263691 A1) Kim (US 2018/0026267 A1) and Higuchi (US 2023/0197950 A1).
Regarding claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-10, 13-15, 18 & 21, Yun teaches a secondary battery comprising a positive electrode sheet comprising a positive electrode current collector and a positive electrode film layer disposed on at least one surface of the positive electrode current collector, wherein the positive electrode film layer includes a positive electrode active material comprising a first positive electrode material with a Dv50- of 0.8 microns to 5 microns and a porous second positive electrode material with a Dv50- of 8 microns to 18 microns, such that the positive electrode active material is represented by the claimed formulas and present in a form of secondary particles formed through aggregation of primary particles having an average particle size D of 0.1 microns to 0.8 microns ([0024]-[0025], [0030], [0032], [0041]-[0050], [0059]-[0071] & [0130]-[0132]). Yun is silent as to (1) a difference between a peak position of a second peak and a peak position of a first peak is 3 microns to 13 microns; (2) each of the secondary particles comprising a plurality of pores formed by using spaces between the primary particles and inner diameter of the pores ranging from 0.2 microns to 0.6 microns and (3) the relationship recited in claim 10 and the porosity B of the positive electrode active material being 0.15% to 0.45% as recited in claim 12. Park teaches a secondary battery comprising a positive electrode active material including a first positive electrode active material and a second positive electrode active material, wherein a particle size distribution diagram of the positive electrode active material that is measured by using a laser diffraction method is of a bimodal shape with a first peak located at about 3.2 microns and second peak located at about 14.7 microns, and a difference between a peak position of a second peak and a peak position of a first peak is within 3 microns to 13 microns (Fig. 1; [0024]-[0033] & [0037]). It is noted that the values for the first and second peaks are determined from the particle size distribution shown in fig. 1 where the peak position characterizes that a particle size at the peak position has a maximum quantity of particles compared to the particles at other positions at vicinity of the peak position.
PNG
media_image1.png
569
690
media_image1.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective fling date of the present invention, to form the positive electrode active material such that a particle size distribution diagram of the positive electrode active material that is measured by using a laser diffraction method is of a bimodal shape, and a difference between a peak position of a second peak and a peak position of a first peak is 3 microns to 13 microns in order to provide a postivie electrode having an increased volume density callable of increasing the capacity of the battery by maximizing a packing ratio between active material particles as taught by Park ([0027]). Kim teaches a positive electrode active material comprising a secondary particle formed by aggregating a plurality of primary particles, wherein the secondary particle comprises a plurality of pores formed by using spaced between the primary particles and inner diameter of the pores is 0.2 microns to 0.6 micron (Fig. 1; [0038]-[0039], [0042] & [0051]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective fling date of the present invention, to provide a plurality of pores in the spaces between the primary particles in Yun’s secondary particle such that an inner diameter of the pores is 0.2 microns to 0.6 micron because a distance for lithium diffusion (e.g., during intercalation and deintercalation) may be advantageously shortened in the secondary particle of the same size (i.e. compared to a secondary particle of comparable overall size without the described pore sizes), and volume changes occurring during charge/discharge cycling may be also alleviated or reduced because pores are not exposed to an electrolyte as taught by Kim ([0042]). Higuchi teaches a positive electrode active material having a bimodal particle size distribution (i.e single particles + secondary particles with pores formed by aggregating a plurality of primary particles) , wherein the porosity of the secondary particles is from 0.9% to desirably 3.2% or less ([0034]-[0043]). It is noted that the single particles are solid structures which are non-porous (i.e porosity of 0%) and therefore the overall porosity of the active material (i.e single particles + secondary particles) would necessarily between 0% and 0.9% to 3.2%. However, when the mass ratio A of the single particles to the secondary particles is from 1 to 9 (i.e corresponding to 50 wt% to 90 wt% of the single particles in active material mixture disclosed in [0049] of Yun) such as an exemplary range of 2.3 to 9 (i.e corresponding to 70 wt% to 90 wt% of the single particles in the active material mixture as described in [0049] of Yun), the porosity of the active material will be closer to lower end of the range (i.e 0% which correspond to the porosity of the single particles since they make up a larger proportion of the active material). Accordingly, the claimed porosity of 0.15% to 0.45% for the positive electrode active material would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art when the mass ratio A is from 2.3 to 9 since the overall porosity of the positive electrode active material will be about 10% to 30% the porosity of secondary particles since the single particle and secondary particles have approximately equal densities (in light of substantially similar compositions) whereas the mass content of single particles, which have a porosity of 0%, is from 2.3 to 9 times that of the secondary particles (i.e 70 wt% to 90 wt% based on the total weight of the active material) such that the volume of the single particle will correspondingly be about 2.3 to 9 times that of the secondary particles. Thus, based on a volume ratio of single particles to the secondary particles of about 2.3 to 9 (i.e about 10 vol% to 30 vol% of the single particles based on the total volume of the active material), a porosity of 0.9% to 3.2% for the secondary particles would result in an overall porosity of the active material of about 0.09% to 0.96% which overlaps with claimed range. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to use an active material with a porosity of 0.15% to 0.5% in order to increase the density of the positive electrode active material thereby providing high volume energy density particles as taught by Higuchi ([0040]). It is noted that when the mass ratio A is 1.5 and 2.33 (as disclosed in [0049] of Yun which corresponds to the first positive electrode active material making up 60 wt% of the active material and 70 wt% of the active material respectively) and for any B from 0.15% to 0.5%, the limitation of claim 10 is satisfied.
Regarding claim 3, Yun teaches each of the secondary particles comprising a plurality of pores formed by using spaced between primary particles and the inner diameter of the pores is 0.1 micron to 0.6 micron ([0030] & [0034]).
Regarding claim 11, Yun teaches the mass ratio A of the first positive electrode material to the second positive electrode material being 1.5 to 9 ([0049]).
Claims 7 & 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun (US 2022/0293913 A1), Park (US 2006/0263691 A1) and Kim (US 2018/0026267 A1), as applied to claims 1-6, 8-11, 13-15, 18 & 21 above, and further in view of Hiratsuka (US 2023/0079228 A1).
Regarding claims 7 & 19-20, Yun as modified by Park and Kim teaches the positive electrode active material of claim 1 and positive electrode sheet of claim 18 but is silent as to the specific surface area of the positive electrode active material being 0.1 m2/g to 1.0 m2/g (claim 7); the thickness of the positive electrode film layer being 200 microns to 400 microns (claim 19); and the compacted density of the positive electrode film layer being 2.9 g/cm3 to 3.5 g/cm3 (claim 20). Hiratsuka teaches a positive electrode film layer comprising a first positive electrode active material and a second positive electrode active material forming a bimodal particle size distribution, wherein the specific surface area of the positive electrode active material being 0.1 m2/g to 1.0 m2/g; the thickness of the positive electrode film layer being 200 microns to 400 microns; and the compacted density of the positive electrode film layer being 2.9 g/cm3 to 3.5 g/cm3 ([0042], [0058]-[0059] & [0065]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to use a specific surface area of 0.1 m2/g to 1.0 m2/g in order to provide excellent output characteristics and to use a compacted density of 2.9 g/cm3 to 3.5 g/cm3 in order to increase the capacity and output of the battery as taught by Hiratsuka ([0059] & [0065]). Furthermore, it would have been obvious to use a positive electrode film layer having a thickness ranging from 200 microns to 300 microns because such a thickness range is taught as being suitable for a positive electrode film layer of a lithium battery as taught by Hiratsuka ([0042]). See MPEP 2144.07.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to Applicant’s arguments that the combined teachings of Yun and Park, does not fairly teach or suggest the subject matter of claim 1, the examiner respectfully disagrees. Specifically, applicant argues that the peak position as recited in amended claim 1 mean a particle size at this peak position has the maximum quantity, rather than volume, of particles compared to the particles at other positions at vicinity of the peak position. Applicant further notes that, in contrast, Park teaches Dv50 values for the first particles and the second particles such that the respective Dv50 do not necessarily correspond to the presently claimed peak positions. However, contrary to applicant’s assertions, fig. 1 of Park illustrates the percent (or fraction) of each positive active material particle based on the particle size ([0020]). It is noted that while Dv50 for the first particles and second particles are labeled as 15.1 microns and 3.5 microns, fig. 1 shows the quantity of particles (i.e based on a percentage of the total quantity of particles) based on the particle size. As such, the particle size distribution in fig. 1 corresponds to a number based (rather than volume based) distribution. For instance, from fig. 1, about 6% of particles have a particle size of about 14.7 microns (i.e obtained by extending Hb to the particles size axis) and about 2% of particles have a particles size of about 3.2 microns (i.e obtained by extending Hs to the particle size axis) where the locations of Hb and Hs on the particle size axis correspond to the claimed first and second peak positions. Since the distance between each tick mark on the x axis is 2.1 cm, and Hs appears halfway between 1 and 10, the corresponding particle size for Hs is 3.2 microns. Similarly, the corresponding particle size for Hb is determined as 14.7 microns (since the length from 10 to Hb is 16.7% of the length from 10 to 100 which was calculated as 2.1 cm as noted above). Thus, in view of the foregoing, claims 1-11 & 13-21 stand rejected.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (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, BARBARA GILLIAM can be reached at (571)272-1330. 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.
/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
Prosecution Insights