From Flora to Solar Adaptive Facades: Integrating Plant-Inspired Design with Photovoltaic Technologies

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. It is recommended to avoid the use of personal pronouns in scientific texts.

 

2. The abstract of the paper requires a complete revision. The abstract should reflect the relevance of the study, the purpose of the study, what methods were used and the results.

 

3. The paper lacks an review in the Introduction. Therefore, the scientific novelty of the paper is not clear. It is necessary to cite similar studies on the topic of the work, highlight their advantages and disadvantages, and then formulate the purpose of the study. There are quite a large number of articles and techniques in the field of solar facades; the topic has been widely developed by scientists.

 

Author Response

1.1. It is recommended to avoid the use of personal pronouns in scientific texts. >> Authors’ response: Thank you for your feedback and valuable comments. We have revised the text accordingly.

1.2. The abstract of the paper requires a complete revision. The abstract should reflect the relevance of the study, the purpose of the study, what methods were used and the results. >> Authors’ response: We have revised the text in the abstract accordingly.

1.3. The paper lacks a review in the Introduction. Therefore, the scientific novelty of the paper is not clear. It is necessary to cite similar studies on the topic of the work, highlight their advantages and disadvantages, and then formulate the purpose of the study. There are quite a large number of articles and techniques in the field of solar facades; the topic has been widely developed by scientists. >> Authors’ response: We have revised the introduction significantly and incorporated numerous relevant literatures, highlighting advantages and disadvantages to formulate the purpose of the study.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript presents a framework relating 3 PV technologies with plant-inspired, biomimetic, building design. The manuscript is well written, organized and structured, with a strong context describing and contextualizing previous and present approaches of plant-inspired developments with PV technology. However, the study lacks a more profound assessment of the potential integration the PV technologies with biomimetics.  A more detailed discussion, proposing/describing real applications in more detail, with their limitations and potentialities of such approach, the possibilities where the proposed view could bring innovations, for example for PV technology, presenting more originality to the study, with economical costs and benefits, and future perspectives of development of this approach. 

Author Response

The manuscript presents a framework relating 3 PV technologies with plant-inspired, biomimetic, building design. The manuscript is well written, organized and structured, with a strong context describing and contextualizing previous and present approaches of plant-inspired developments with PV technology. However, the study lacks a more profound assessment of the potential integration the PV technologies with biomimetics.  A more detailed discussion, proposing/describing real applications in more detail, with their limitations and potentialities of such approach, the possibilities where the proposed view could bring innovations, for example for PV technology, presenting more originality to the study, with economical costs and benefits, and future perspectives of development of this approach. >> Authors’ response: Thank you for your feedback and valuable comments. We have extended the discussion in section 6 proposing real applications with examples, and provided further elaboration on potentials including economic benefits, innovations, and discussed limitations, etc. Additionally, we have included more content in section 7 detailing future research perspectives.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript titled "From Flora to Solar Adaptive Façades: Integrating Plant-in-spired Design with Photovoltaic Technologies" by Jalali et al. aimed to achieve sustainable building through integrating various solar cell technologies while focusing on biomimetic design for plant-inspired building envelopes. The authors considered building-integrated photovoltaic cells and building envelopes for plant solar adaptation design principles, wherein the performance characteristics of c-Si, perovskite, and organic solar cell technologies were applied. The presented theme is valuable for sustainable development and lowering the carbon footprint of building envelopes, but it needs clarity, broader considerations, and some critical revisions for its acceptance in the Sustainability journal. Here are my comments for the authors:

1. The authors claimed that exploring the solar adaptation strategies found in plants can substantially improve building performance, but I couldn't find supporting information in the main results and discussion like energy density demands, asthetics parameters, weatherizations parameters and more.

2. The authors mentioned that integrating solar technologies with biomimetic solar adaptive solutions could establish a suitable combination towards sustainable design without solid evidence and supporting data.

3. The authors considered c-Si, perovskite, and organic solar cells to align building-integrated photovoltaic technology for plant adaptable faces. The stability and toxicity of the PV become crucial when it comes to building-integration approaches. The authors are suggested to clarify this in the manuscript. Additionally, compound PV technologies, specifically transparent and semitransparent solar cells, are strongly suggested to be included in Bio-ASBWs design. The work on this solid-state solar cell technology relevant to this study is available in the following publications: Transparent Photovoltaics for Building Electronics and Communications in https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202300720, UV Protected and Harvesting Highly Transparent Solid-state Device in J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 14559-14570. The authors are suggested to refer to these works and discuss effective design strategies for flora to solar adaptive façades.

4. The manuscript should provide context regarding the optimum environment for indoor plants to be obtained, including humidity, spectral distribution, and temperature. Additionally, does the UV segment of sunlight benefit plants?

5. Table 1 should include inorganic solar cells with semitransparent and transparent features.

6. The manuscript mentions various plants such as "Hellebore, Phlomis, and Olive trees." Is it possible to provide an ideal photoresponse for these plants?

7. To complete the framework, the energy needs for the building envelope and its lifetime are strongly suggested. The authors mentioned that adaptable building envelopes, which demand great energy for weatherization, can be settled in the discussion.

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The topic is very interesting and interests the researchers and practitioners who seek to improve energy efficiency of buildings.

The research purpose and objectives are very clear and the transition from introduction to research methodology is smooth and easy to follow.

Section 4 has comprehensively reviewed the literature on PV systems. Then, based on this literature, three PV technologies are chosen and compared to evaluate their integration with “Bio-ASBEs”. The three technologies are then discussed and compared in an organized and understandable manner and the advantages and disadvantages of each system are presented in a table. This helps the reader to follow easily.

In section 5, the strategies that plants use to control/use solar radiation are discussed to be used in offering design solutions for building façade.

Section 6 is considered the finding and discussion section of this study in which the findings from the previous sections are integrated to offer novel solutions for façade design. However, this section lacks an in-depth discussion of the findings. In this section, the “PV-integrated Bio-ASBE Framework” has been presented in Figure 4, which is very informative and helpful. However, this suggested framework needs elaboration to be useful for researchers and practitioners. Moreover, the consistencies/inconsistencies with other studies should also be discussed.

 

Section 7 concludes the study and suggests future research. However, the future research is not built on the limitations of this study. I would recommend discussing the limitations of this study followed by future research.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The paper is well-written and easy to follow.

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment." 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The revised manuscript by the authors has improved a lot, and it is acceptable for publication.