Controlled Synthesis and Photoelectrochemical Performance Enhancement of Cu_2−xSe Decorated Porous Au/Bi₂Se₃ Z-Scheme Plasmonic Photoelectrocatalyst

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The authors prepared modified hybrid nanoparticles with porous shells through a cation exchange method for water splitting based on Bi₂Se₃/Cu₂-xSe Z-scheme heterojunction.

However, the research did well but I not recommended to publish in this journal due to

1. The authors used very high PH 12.4 which leads to damage the film immediately through test  especially under high voltage of 1.2 Vs  RHE .
2. For water splitting system we usually look for high performance with less external penitential than 1.23 V .
3. Even used high external potential of 1.2 V  the film will not stabilized for several seconds.

If the author did test of Gas chromatography to approve pure emission of H₂ and O₂   , then this research can published in another journal like Journal of composite science (MDPI).

4. There are a lots of non- academic words that used in the text I highlighted them.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We are very grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions from the reviewers and editor, we have made careful and thorough modifications one by one according to the reviewers’ comments, which result in the significant improvement of the manuscript on the structure and grammar of the manuscript and performance characterization of the sample. The detailed responses to the reviewers’ comments are given in the attachment, and the corresponding changes in the revision are highlighted in the blue fonts.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors proposed new hybrid materials with z-scheme heterojunction and strong plasmon resonance absorption in the visible range which could be promising  in solar-induced water splitting.

Text of manuscript is well organized, procedures of synthesis are proper described, comprehensive characterization of structure, morphology and electron properties have been carried out.

The results are original and could be interested for the researches in area of photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis.

Author Response

We are very grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions from the reviewers and editor.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments
1. The author should mention the bandgap of the Bi2Se3 and Cu2Se in introduction section.
2. The authors should highlight the photocatalytic aspect of Bi2Se3 and Cu2Se in
introduction section.
3. Why Au nanoparticles were used? Even both semiconductors have optical absorption in
visible region?
4. The authors should index the XRD peaks and also mention the Raman studies of each
sample.
5. Photoluminescence spectroscopy should be added and efficient charge recombination
kinetics should be explained.
6. Tauc plots should be provided.
7. The VB and CB value should be provided in figure 7.
8. After photocatalysis reaction the structural and optical characterization should be added.

Author Response

We are very grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions from the reviewers and editor, we have made careful and thorough modifications one by one according to the reviewers’ comments, which result in the significant improvement of the manuscript on the structure and grammar of the manuscript and performance characterization of the sample. The detailed responses to the reviewers’ comments are given in the attachment, and the corresponding changes in the revision are highlighted in the blue fonts.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors presented a complete study about controlled synthesis and photoelectrochemical performance enhancement of Cu_2-xSe decorated porous Au/Bi₂Se₃ Z-scheme plasmonic photoelectrocatalyst. It is quite a good work and there are some major issues required that need to be addressed before publication and hopefully that will enhance the quality of the manuscript.

1. The introduction should be divided into paragraphs
2. In the introduction, there is need for more information about Cu_2-xSe. What is the reason for choosing Copper in this work?
3. Experimental procedures and analyses should be clearly explained.
4. The energy gap of Au/Bi₂Se₃/Cu_2-x-Se must be determined.
5. A comparison of the results with literature should be done.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We are very grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions from the reviewers and editor, we have made careful and thorough modifications one by one according to the reviewers’ comments, which result in the significant improvement of the manuscript on the structure and grammar of the manuscript and performance characterization of the sample. The detailed responses to the reviewers’ comments are given in the attachment, and the corresponding changes in the revision are highlighted in the blue fonts.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

accepted in present form