Impact of Bulk and Nano Bismuth Oxide on the Attenuation Parameters of Bentonite Barite Composites

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper focuses on the study of neutron and gamma ray absorption without compromising the structural integrity of bentonite based, it is often used as the main protective material in many nuclear facilities.It is often used as the main protective material in many nuclear facilities.

the article can be accepted for publication, but after eliminating the following comments

1. The abstract misses the essence of the study? what kind of samples were obtained? by what technology? what numerical values were obtained with different types of irradiation?

2. Is the study of XRD analysis missing? What phases are obtained?

3. Is the guide very short in my opinion? Does it not cover technologies of matreil protection? What types of materials are used? As I know Egypt has a lunar programme, perhaps it is worth covering the possibility of using your materials in it?

4. Figure 4. - EDX data are insufficient to understand the homogeneity of the absorber implementation?

5. When irradiated with neutrons, is there no induced radioactivity? What products can be formed during neutron activation?

6. I'd like to see the significance of Raman spectroscopy.

7. In your opinion, what are the possibilities of using SPS technology for your materials? (10.1016/j.net.2021.01.024, 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.02.007)

8. It is worth increasing the 2018-2023 literature in a study using MDPI journal citations

 

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Author Response

the reply is attached

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript entitled “Bentonite With Barite Composites Containing Variant Concentrations of Bulk and Nano Bismuth Oxide as Radiation Shielding “ has been investigated in detail. The topic addressed in the manuscript is potentially interesting and the manuscript contains some practical meanings, however, there are some issues which should be addressed by the authors:

 

1.      Keywords should be written in alphabetical order.

2.      Authors should clearly write what the motivation of this paper is. Why specifically bismuth oxide was added to bentonite is not clear.

3.      Please highlight the spectrum of Coblat-60 in figure 7. It is not clear.

4.      Authors should add a paragraph into the introduction section,. They should write "The main contributions of this paper are: (i) ….. (ii) ……. and (iii) ……" to highlight the key works. By this way, authors should provide a stronger motivation clearly and explain the originality of the paper.

5.      The literature review of the paper is very weak! Please add several related and new references to the text. There are only 5 references in Introduction section.

6.      There are no numerical results in the Abstarct section. Please add results to this section.

7.      Do the authors check reproducibility for experiments? Please add to the text.

8.      It will be helpful to the readers if some discussions about insight of the main results are added as Remarks.

9.      I recommend to the authors for using soft computing methods (Feature selection, feature reduction, Artificial Neural Network and etc.) for modelling this nonlinear problem and predicting the optimum points for future works.

This study may be consider for publication if it is addressed in the specified problems.

The linguistic quality needs improvement. It is essential to make sure that the manuscript reads smoothly- this definitely helps the reader fully appreciate your research findings. There are grammar and writing style errors that should be corrected by the authors

Author Response

1. Keywords should be written in alphabetical order.

Authors' response #

Thank you for your remark. Keywords are written in alphabetical order.

 

2. Authors should clearly write what the motivation of this paper is. Why specially bismuth oxide was added to bentonite is not clear.

Authors' response #

Thank you for your remark. The introduction was rewritten to clearly show the importance of bismuth oxide.

 

3. Please highlight the spectrum of cobal-60 in figure 7. It is not clear.

Authors' response #

 Thank you for your remark. Figure 7 has been improved.

 

4. Authers should add a paragraph into the introduction section. They should write “The main contributions of this paper are: (i) …………. (ii) ……… and (iii) ….. .” to highlight the key works. By this way, authors should provide a strong motivation clearly and explain the originality of the paper.

Authors' response #

              Thank you for your remark. the introduction was modified as you suggested. We added a paragraph at the end of in introduction to show the importance of present work.

 

5. The literature review of the paper is very weak! Please add several related and new references to the text. There are only 5 references in Introduction section.

Authors' response #

Thank you for your remark. The literature review of the paper was modified as you suggested.

 

6. There are no numerical results in the Abstract section. Please add results to this section.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thank you for your remark. The abstract was rewritten as you suggested.

 

7. Do the authors check reproducibility for experiments? Please add to text.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thanks for your comment, the comparison with others was added according to your suggestion.

 

8. It will be helpful to the readers if some discussions about insight of the main results are added as Remarks.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thank you for your remark. The conclusion was rewritten as you suggested.

 

9. I recommend to the authors for using soft computer methods (Feature selection, feature reduction, Artificial Neutral Network and etc.) for modeling this nonlinear problem and predicting the optimum points for future works.

                Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thank you for your remark and suggestion, and we will try to do it in future work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript entitled, ‘Bentonite With Barite Composites Containing Variant Concentrations of Bulk and Nano Bismuth Oxide as Radiation Shielding’ discussed composite preparation for shielding applications. The article should be modified according to the following points;

1.      First of all the title sounds clumsy. That should be more relevant to the topic reported.

2.      The mechanism of shielding especially, why bentonite and barite would make it feasible is not clear. Better elaboration needed.

3.      How the dispersion of barite inside bentonite was happened? Is it a heterogeneous assembly? If so, what was the driving force/

4.      A comparison table would be helpful to the readers where your composite would be coampared with others.

5.      Some articles have significance and could be discussed with the help of following references:

(a)    Ganguly, S., Bhawal, P., Ravindren, R., & Das, N. C. (2018). Polymer nanocomposites for electromagnetic interference shielding: a review. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 18(11), 7641-7669.

(b)   Ganguly, S., Das, P., Saha, A., Noked, M., Gedanken, A., & Margel, S. (2022). Mussel-inspired polynorepinephrine/MXene-based magnetic nanohybrid for electromagnetic interference shielding in X-band and strain-sensing performance. Langmuir, 38(12), 3936-3950.

(c)    Cheng, J., Li, C., Xiong, Y., Zhang, H., Raza, H., Ullah, S., ... & Che, R. (2022). Recent advances in design strategies and multifunctionality of flexible electromagnetic interference shielding materials. Nano-micro letters, 14(1), 80.

(d)   Wang, X. Y., Liao, S. Y., Wan, Y. J., Zhu, P. L., Hu, Y. G., Zhao, T., ... & Wong, C. P. (2022). Electromagnetic interference shielding materials: recent progress, structure design, and future perspective. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 10(1), 44-72.

 

Author Response

1. First of all the title sounds clumsy. That should be more relevant to the topic reported.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thanks for your remark, the title has been changed according to your suggestion.

 

2. The mechanism of shielding especially, why bentonite and barite would make it feasible is not clear. Better elaboration is needed.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: In this study, we aim to investigate the attenuation parameters of a composite material comprising bentonite, barite, and bismuth oxide. Our focus is on understanding how this composite effectively attenuates gamma-ray radiation.

3. How the dispersion of barite inside bentonite was happened? Is it a heterogeneous assembly? If so, what was the driving force/

Authors' response #

The specimens were created using a combination of bentonite powder, water, and additional substances such as bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) and fine barite powder. The mixture was thoroughly mixed for a few minutes to ensure a homogeneous distribution. We used SEM to ensure the distribution of the Bi2O3 inside the samples.

 

4. A comparison table would be helpful to the readers where your composite would be coampared with others.

Authors' response #

Dear Sir: Thanks for your comment, The comparison with others was added according to your suggestion.

 

5. Some articles have significance and could be discussed with the help of following references:

(a)    Ganguly, S., Bhawal, P., Ravindren, R., & Das, N. C. (2018). Polymer nanocomposites for electromagnetic interference shielding: a review. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 18(11), 7641-7669.

(b)   Ganguly, S., Das, P., Saha, A., Noked, M., Gedanken, A., & Margel, S. (2022). Mussel-inspired polynorepinephrine/MXene-based magnetic nanohybrid for electromagnetic interference shielding in X-band and strain-sensing performance. Langmuir, 38(12), 3936-3950.

(c)    Cheng, J., Li, C., Xiong, Y., Zhang, H., Raza, H., Ullah, S., ... & Che, R. (2022). Recent advances in design strategies and multifunctionality of flexible electromagnetic interference shielding materials. Nano-micro letters, 14(1), 80.

(d)   Wang, X. Y., Liao, S. Y., Wan, Y. J., Zhu, P. L., Hu, Y. G., Zhao, T., ... & Wong, C. P. (2022). Electromagnetic interference shielding materials: recent progress, structure design, and future perspective. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 10(1), 44-72.

 

Authors' response #

Thank you for your remark. References were modified as you suggested.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors did not address the editor's comments, especially regarding induced activity, the utilization of SPS technology, and link updates. The article shall not be edited further until these comments are considered.

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Author Response

Response to Reviewer #1

 

5. When irradiated with neutrons, is there no induced radioactivity? What products can be formed during neutron activation?

Authors' response: In our study, we have focused on analyzing the radiation parameters of new composites when exposed to gamma rays emitted by radioactive sources. It is important to note that we have not conducted any irradiation experiments involving neutrons, nor have we made any mention of neutron-related aspects in our work. However, it is worth mentioning that when samples are irradiated with neutrons, they inevitably undergo induced radioactivity. The specific products resulting from this process depend on factors such as neutron energy and the type of target material. Nevertheless, it is crucial to emphasize that our current objective does not involve investigating these aspects in detail.

7. In your opinion, what are the possibilities of using SPS technology for your materials? (10.1016/j.net.2021.01.024, 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.02.007)

Authors' response: SPS, or Sandwich Plate System, is an unrivalled composite solution backed by continuous, cross-application global testing and development. Lighter and thinner than conventional solutions, this modular structural composite is recognized as the first sustainable major advance in heavy engineering in 150 years. This technique is new to us, and we have not had the opportunity to utilize it before. Therefore, we are unable to provide you with the information or possibilities you are seeking within such a short timeframe. However, we are eager to delve into researching SPS technology and its potential applications for our future work.

Thanks For the Reviewer’s Efforts

All My Best Wishes

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

all the comments have been addressed correctly

Author Response

thanks a lot for your effort and valuable comments

Reviewer 3 Report

This can be published in its present form.

Author Response

thanks a lot for your effort and valuable comments