Appeal No. 2006-1311
Application No. 10/101,177
coating for a gas diffusion electrode of a fuel cell by
impregnating with a solution containing a solvent-soluble
fluorine-containing polymer having substantially no ion exchange
group, but appellants maintain that it would not have been
obvious to incorporate the water repellent coating presently
claimed and disclosed by Yoshitake in the electrode/membrane
assembly of the admitted prior art.
The principal argument advanced by appellants is that
Yoshitake "does not disclose the use of a porous carbon
substrate as a gas diffusion layer for a gas diffusion
electrode, and neither discloses nor suggests using a carbon
layer having a fluororesin and carbon black formed on the porous
carbon substrate" (page 7 of principal brief, first paragraph,
emphasis added). Although the examiner does not rely upon
Example 4 of Yoshitake, appellants submit that there is a
translation error in Example 4 of the reference inasmuch as
Yoshitake actually exemplifies a porous film of PTFE, not
carbon. According to appellants, the porous film of Yoshitake
"means a material formed from a catalyst and PTFE, and does not
correspond to such a porous carbon substrate as in the present
invention" (page 8 of principal brief, third paragraph). In
response, the examiner sites Yoshitake at column 6, lines 55-58
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