High-Aligned PVDF Nanofibers with a High Electroactive Phase Prepared by Systematically Optimizing the Solution Property and Process Parameters of Electrospinning

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I have read the manuscript and think  that this is an exciting work and can be considered for publications but require some revisions before reviewing further, Materials  Research is an exciting field incluing of nanofibers, Author studied High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electroactive phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electrospinning, To make  literature review better , I suggest to add more refrences like below  a) Various WHO reports to on nanofibers applications to mankind b)  New tailored organic semiconductors thin films for optoelectronic applications  Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 95, 10201 (2021) c)  Fabrication of densely distributed silver indium selenide nanorods by using Ag+ ion irradiation ,Journal of Korean Physical Society 57 (3), 474-479 2 Include some more experimental techniques like Add more details about the technique that can be used for the synthesis of such systems . 3) References need to be checked for correctness and should be as per this press style.  4)  fig 3 , explain a bit more qualitatively.  5) Include one paragraph inside the manuscript specifying the novelty of this work.  What is new in this work in addition to already available data ?  60 Discuss the international  status of nanofibers work in text  7) What are the challenges of this work in commertialization     If the author can address the above issues in the manuscript then it can be reconsidered for the press, in my opinion.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your work and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript. The manuscript coatings-1854123has been carefully revised. We appreciate the detailed and useful comments and suggestions from reviewers. The point-by-point answers to the comments and suggestions were listed as below. The changes made are in red font in the new version

Reviewer #1:

Point 1. To make literature review better, I suggest to add more references like below a) Various WHO reports to on nanofibers applications to mankind b) New tailored organic semiconductors thin films for optoelectronic applications Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 95, 10201 (2021) c)  Fabrication of densely distributed silver indium selenide nanorods by using Ag+ ion irradiation ,Journal of Korean Physical Society 57 (3), 474-479.

Response 1: Thanks for your professional comment. We have added some new references in this literature (Reference [1],[11],[12],[13]). But we don’t use the reference “Fabrication of densely distributed silver indium selenide nanorods by using Ag+ ion irradiation” because this article is not related to this manuscript.

 

Point 2. Include some more experimental techniques like Add more details about the technique that can be used for the synthesis of such systems.

Response 2: We agree with this proposal and more details about the technique were added in the Introduction section (line 84-87).

 

Point 3. References need to be checked for correctness and should be as per this press style.

Response 3: Thanks for your comment. All the references have been checked.

 

Point 4. fig 3 , explain a bit more qualitatively.

Response 4: Thank you very much for your professional comment. The Fig.3 was explained more qualitatively (line 295-296, line 298-300).

 

Point 5. Include one paragraph inside the manuscript specifying the novelty of this work.  What is new in this work in addition to already available data?

Response 5: Thanks for your professional comment. The novelty of this work was added in the last paragraph of the Introduction section (line 107-109, line 114-118).

 

Point 6. Discuss the international status of nanofibers work in text.

Response 6: Thank you very much for your professional comment. In the Introduction part, we emphasized the status of nanofiber in the field of piezoelectric research (line 80-81), and discussed the recent research about electrospinning PVDF nanofibers (line 90-103).

 

Point 7. What are the challenges of this work in commertialization.

Response 7: We have not considered this work for commercialization until now, so it is not mentioned in this literature. The challenges of this work in commercialization are: 1) The low solution flow rate leads to low productivity of nanofibers; 2) The size of the product (nanofibrous film) is small (around 20×20 cm).

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

 

The reviewed manuscript entitled “High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electroactive phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electrospinning” investigates the effects of various electrospinning parameters on the piezoelectric properties of PVDF nanofibers. The article is made at a good scientific and technical level, and its practical significance is beyond doubt. In order to improve the readability and clarity of the manuscript, some minor concerns need to be addressed before the paper is to be accepted for publishing:

1-   The motivation for the study and the research gap are not clear enough. Please try to demonstrate in the introduction of the paper, the novelty of this research in relation to other thematically similar research papers.

2-  L111: “(from our preliminary studies – data do not show)” What authors mean by “data do not show”? is it not published yet? Please add reference if it was already published.

3-  L158: “which are taken as 103.4 J/g, for, and 93.07 J/g for the α and β phases, respectively” Please correct the sentence by adding the missing information.

4-  L171: “To perform the identification of electroactive phases, the study area was restricted to 400-1600 cm-1.” Please mention the scientific reason behind using that selected range.

5- L262: “Therefore, 25 w/v% PVDF/DMF/acetone solution was selected to discuss the factors affecting the electroactive phase of PVDF nanofibers.” Why the 30% concentration was excluded? Isn't it likely to show better fiber morphology than 25%?

6-  Figure 3 caption: It is for “VDF/DMF/acetone” not “PVDF-DMF” please correct.

7- Discussion is lack of scientific explanation for the obtained results. Authors should attribute the results achieved to a clear scientific reason.

8- The English language used in the paper is to be revised and improved before the subsequent manuscript submission. Please, read the text carefully before the next submission of the paper.

 

 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your work and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript. The manuscript coatings-1854123has been carefully revised. We appreciate the detailed and useful comments and suggestions from reviewers. The point-by-point answers to the comments and suggestions were listed as below. The changes made are in red font in the new version

Reviewer #2:

The reviewed manuscript entitled “High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electroactive phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electrospinning” investigates the effects of various electrospinning parameters on the piezoelectric properties of PVDF nanofibers. The article is made at a good scientific and technical level, and its practical significance is beyond doubt. In order to improve the readability and clarity of the manuscript, some minor concerns need to be addressed before the paper is to be accepted for publishing:

 

Point 1. The motivation for the study and the research gap are not clear enough. Please try to demonstrate in the introduction of the paper, the novelty of this research in relation to other thematically similar research papers.

Response 1: Thanks for your professional comment. We have added other researches, motivation for this study, and novelty into the Introduction section (line 90-103, line 107-109, line 114-118).

 

Point 2. L111: “(from our preliminary studies – data do not show)” What authors mean by “data do not show”? is it not published yet? Please add reference if it was already published.

Response 2: Thanks for your professional comment. We discussed how to get the stable Taylor cone during electrospinning in our preliminary studies, and these works haven’t published yet.

 

Point 3. L158: “which are taken as 103.4 J/g, for, and 93.07 J/g for the α and β phases, respectively” Please correct the sentence by adding the missing information.

Response 3: Thanks for your professional comment. We have corrected this sentence.

 

Point 4. “To perform the identification of electroactive phases, the study area was restricted to 400-1600 cm-1.” Please mention the scientific reason behind using that selected range.

Response 4: Thanks for your professional comment. Because the typical bands of α-, β-, and γ-crystalline phases are existed in the region of 400-1600 cm^-1. I have added a reference in this part (line 204, reference [36]).

 

Point 5. L262: “Therefore, 25 w/v% PVDF/DMF/acetone solution was selected to discuss the factors affecting the electroactive phase of PVDF nanofibers.” Why the 30% concentration was excluded? Isn't it likely to show better fiber morphology than 25%?

Response 5: Thanks for your professional comment. When the concentration is 30%, the PVDF solidified rapidly and blocked the needle tip. And the flow of the solution is unstable. I added the explain in the manuscript (line 298-300).

 

Point 6. Figure 3 caption: It is for “VDF/DMF/acetone” not “PVDF-DMF” please correct.

Response 6: Thanks for your professional comment. The Figure 3 caption has been corrected.

 

Point 7. Discussion is lack of scientific explanation for the obtained results. Authors should attribute the results achieved to a clear scientific reason.

Response 7: Thanks for your professional comment. We have given more scientific explanation of the results (line 295-296, line 327-328, line387-389).

 

Point 8. The English language used in the paper is to be revised and improved before the subsequent manuscript submission. Please, read the text carefully before the next submission of the paper.

Response 8: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have revised the English language.

Reviewer 3 Report

Reviewers' comments:

Manuscript ID: coatings-1854123

Title: High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electroactive phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electrospinning.

Manuscript Type: Article.

 

Reviewers' comments:

The manuscript describes the High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electro active phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electro spinning. The manuscript needs a detailed editing. Some markings are made to just illustrate the extent of editing needed. A thorough revision addressing all the concerns is needed and if the authors are prepared to do that it can be considered for a review of the revised manuscript.

 

The authors need to consider the following comments

- In the Abstract, the authors need to improve with more specific short results and conclusions, i.e. academic novelty or technical advantages.

- Keywords: add more suitable keywords.

- The novelty, scope, and significance of the present work should be highlighted in the last paragraph of the Introduction section.

- The 2. Materials and Methods section should be detailed especially for the 2.2.1. Preparation of PVDF solutions, 2.3.2. Morphological characterization of the nanofibers, and 2.3.4. Piezoelectric properties of the poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers.

- Figure 1. Viscosity (Pa.s) of the polymer solutions (A- in DMF, B- in DMF/acetone - 2/3) vs PVDF concentration (w/v %) - is not clear make clear.

- Figures 2, and 3 - is not clear make clear.

- In part SEM: how the energy of the accelerator beam used?

- Line number 309 - peak at 840 cm-1 (Figure 4-E)….to… peak at 840 cm^-1 (Figure 4-E).

- Figure 5. SEM images and nanofibers diameter distribution (A), and mean nanofiber diameter (B), 367 percentages of FEA, F(β) and F(γ) of PVDF nanofibers for different TCD values (C) (25w/v% PVDF, 368 DMF/acetone=2/3, TCD= 13-25cm, FR=1 mL/h, V= 20kV). - Not clear make clear.

- Figure 6 - make clear.

- The number of references in the manuscript is old, most of the references are before 2018. This number must be reduced and citations of very recent references must be added especially in the introduction part.

- Make all references in same format for volume number, page number and journal name, because it is difficult to searching and reading.

- Minor English corrections is required throughout the manuscript.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your work and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript. The manuscript coatings-1854123has been carefully revised. We appreciate the detailed and useful comments and suggestions from reviewers. The point-by-point answers to the comments and suggestions were listed as below. The changes made are in red font in the new version.

Reviewer #3:

The manuscript describes the High-aligned PVDF nanofibers with a high electro active phase prepared by systematically optimizing the solution property and process parameters of electro spinning. The manuscript needs a detailed editing. Some markings are made to just illustrate the extent of editing needed. A thorough revision addressing all the concerns is needed and if the authors are prepared to do that it can be considered for a review of the revised manuscript.

The authors need to consider the following comments:

 

Point 1. In the Abstract, the authors need to improve with more specific short results and conclusions, i.e. academic novelty or technical advantages.

Response 1: Thank you very much for your professional comment. The academic novelty was added into the Abstract (line 18-19, line 28-30).

 

Point 2. Keywords: add more suitable keywords.

Response 2: We added more suitable keywords.

 

Point 3. The novelty, scope, and significance of the present work should be highlighted in the last paragraph of the Introduction section.

Response 3: Thanks for your professional comment. We have revised the last paragraph of the Introduction section and added the motivation and novelty of this study (line 107-109, line 114-118).

 

Point 4. The 2. Materials and Methods section should be detailed especially for the 2.2.1. Preparation of PVDF solutions, 2.3.2. Morphological characterization of the nanofibers, and 2.3.4. Piezoelectric properties of the poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers.

Response 4: Thanks for your professional comment. We have revised the section 2.2.1, 2.3.2 and 2.3.4.

 

Point 5. Figure 1. Viscosity (Pa.s) of the polymer solutions (A- in DMF, B- in DMF/acetone - 2/3) vs PVDF concentration (w/v %) - is not clear make clear.

Response 5: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have corrected Figure 1 caption.

 

Point 6. Figures 2, and 3 - is not clear make clear.

Response 6: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have corrected the caption of Figure 2 and 3.

 

Point 7. In part SEM: how the energy of the accelerator beam used?

Response 7: The working mechanism of SEM is as follows: the accelerator electron beam is applied on the surface of the sample, and the interaction of the electron beam with the sample surface produces different type of electrons. Specialized detectors capture these electrons and translate the signal into surface mapping or chemical compositional images. Larger atoms can deflect more electrons and thus give a higher signal. Consequently, elements with a higher atomic number will scatter more electrons than an element with a lower atomic number. For example, areas consisting of carbon atoms will appear much darker on the grayscale of the image than an area containing Gold (Au). For the sample coated with gold, clear SEM images can be obtained using an accelerating electric field of 5 kV. But for the samples without coating gold, the deflected electrons are not as much as the samples coated with gold, so the obtained SEM image is not clear. There are two ways to obtained clearer SEM images: 1) coating gold on the samples, 2) increase the accelerating voltage. Some of the samples are not coated with gold, so we increase the accelerating voltage (15 kV) to get clearer SEM images.

 

Point 8. Line number 309 - peak at 840 cm-1 (Figure 4-E)….to… peak at 840 cm-1 (Figure 4-E).

Response 8: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have corrected it.

 

Point 9. Figure 5. SEM images and nanofibers diameter distribution (A), and mean nanofiber diameter (B), 367 percentages of FEA, F(β) and F(γ) of PVDF nanofibers for different TCD values (C) (25w/v% PVDF, 368 DMF/acetone=2/3, TCD= 13-25cm, FR=1 mL/h, V= 20kV). - Not clear make clear.

Response 9: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have corrected Figure 5 caption.

 

Point 10. Figure 6 - make clear.

Response 10: We have corrected Figure 6 caption.

 

Point 11. The number of references in the manuscript is old, most of the references are before 2018. This number must be reduced and citations of very recent references must be added especially in the introduction part.

Response 11: Thanks for your professional comment. We have added more new references in this version, especially in the Introduction part. Most of the references are later 2018.

 

Point 12. Make all references in same format for volume number, page number and journal name, because it is difficult to searching and reading.

Response 12: Following your remark, the references have been revised in this version.

 

Point 13. Minor English corrections is required throughout the manuscript.

Response 13: Thank you very much for your professional comment. We have revised the English language.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accepted 

Reviewer 3 Report

The quality of the manuscript has been improved in the revised version. My comments and questions have been clearly addressed as well.