Construction of Multi-Defective ZnMn2O4/Carbon Nitride Three-Dimensional System for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Sulfamethoxazole Degradation
Mohaddeseh Shahabi Nejad
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
line 89 and beyond
"and the characteristic peaks of ZnMn2O4 gradually enсhanced with the increase of the content. Finally, no characteristic peaks of other materials can be seen in the XRD spectrum, indicating that the composite had high purity and no 91 other impurities"
Analyzing the presented diffraction patterns, it becomes obvious that there are also impurity reflections and the intensity of ZnMn2O4 phase reflections is not proportional to the content.
Also the relative intencity of ZnMn2O4 peaks is not proportional to the content.
Most likely, either ultrasonication in a cyanimide solution or heat treatment to obtain a composite leads to chemical reactions between the components. This may explain the obscure dependencies in the UV–Vis DRS and photocatalytic activity data.
line 156 and beyond
"2.2. Morphology analysis"
There should be for comparison SEM images of pure ZnMn2O4 nanosheets and also if possible pure C3N4 obtained at the same conditionline 89 and beyond
line 178
"under visible light (λ≥420 nm)"
How was light filtering done?
line 246 and beyond
The synthesis procedure is not clear.
"urea as template" - unclear...
"dissolved with deionized water and ethanol solution" - volume, proportion?
"dissolved by analytical balance" - unclear...
"brown solution" - suspension?
"centrifuged 5000 r/min" - RCF should be provided
"materia lcompletely" - material completely
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The note about XRD and IR is still valid.
It is impossible to talk about obtaining a composite when some of the diffraction patterns contain reflections that are not related to the initial phases. And it is impossible to adequately interpret the results of photocatalytic experiments when the relative content of phases in the composite obviously does not correspond to the theoretical one (judging by the relative intensity of the g-C3N4 and ZnMn2O4 peaks in the IR spectra).
Reflections of ZnMn2O4 and impurity phases should be noted on the diffraction pattern.
To adequately analyze the observed dependences of the properties of the obtained composites, data from a direct analysis of the content of the inorganic phase in the composite (at least simple gravimetry) are required.
On the presented SEM image it is impossible to establish whether the obtained ZnMn2O4 is in the form of nanosheets or not. It might not be worth talking about in this case.
Summing up.
Judging by the data presented, the synthetic procedure did not lead to the production of a two-phase composite with a given content of the main components. Most likely, either ultrasonication in a cyanimide solution or heat treatment to obtain a composite leads to chemical reactions between the components. To draw conclusions about the causes of differences in the activity of the samples, a more detailed analysis of the phase composition and quantitative composition of the samples is required. Without this, the article cannot be published.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
