Magnetism and Transport Properties of EuCdBi2 with Bi Square Net
, Wen-He Jiao 1, Xiao-Feng Xu 1, Zhi Ren 3 and Guang-Han Cao 2,5Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article presents the results of the synthesis in the form of single crystals and a comprehensive study of the physical properties of the ternary bismuthide EuCdBi2, a new interesting representative of the 112 family. The combination of the applied methods allowed the authors to establish the main physical characteristics of the obtained substance. Previously, EuMnBi2, SrMnBi2, and SrCdBi2 have been obtained and studied, which makes it possible for the authors to draw analogies and support their conclusions.
According to the reviewer, this material is certainly of interest and can be published without revision. The only thing is that there are a few typos in the article that are easily detected by automatic grammar checking and which, of course, need to be corrected.
There is also a request to the authors to explain why they did not use single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis to determine the crystal structure of EuCdBi2.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript describes crystal growth, structure analysis, and thermodynamic measurements of the newly discovered layered compound EuCdBi2. Possible relation with topology is outlined. This work is interesting and provides a positive impression. Thus it can be recommended for publication.
Some minor points to fix are:
1. Ref. 27 has Erratum with an alleviated statement on mixed valence state in EuZnSb2.
2. experimental section: what is Bi ballet?
3. Are the crystals air and moisture sensitive? Were they handled in air or in a glove box?
4. I do not understand the meaning of the statement "Notably, we have also tried to refine the data with space group P4/nmm and found some reflections, such as (103) at 22.67â—¦ and (105) at 27.88â—¦ , failed to be indexed." The P4/nmm cell has twice shorter periodicity along the c-axis, it will intrinsically generate a smaller number of reflections. The correct strategy is to find the smallest unit cell that is able to account for all reflections and then deduce possible additional symmetry with translational components (centering, glade plains, and screw axes).
5. Please submit the cif file of this compound to ICSD and reference the deposit.
6. Planar pnictogen layers are unstable towards the formation of charge density waves. Could it be the case for the anomaly at 60K?
7. "presented in the inset of Figure 2(b)" - Figure 3(b), I presume?
8. "which will open a gap in Dirac bands and the gap size is about 0.05 eV, 0.07 eV and 0.2 - 0.3 eV for SrMnBi2 39 , EuMnBi2 39 and BaZnBi2 31 respectively." Please clarify if you are talking about the optical band gap. The resistivity otherwise shows metallic behavior.
9. The authors have no direct evidence of Dirac nodes in the title material. Thus it is desirable to reformulate it as speculation rather than an explanation. The authors point at both possible Dirac nodes and possible small band gap, which contradict each other.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have properly addressed the comments, and the paper can be accepted for publication.
