Study on the Preparation of Nd–Doped Zinc Cobalt Oxide Porous Film and Its Electrochemical Properties
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors worked on interesting and actual topic materials for supercapacitors and show in the manuscript "Preparation of zinc cobaltate porous films doped with Nd and the electrochemical properties". The authors synthesized the Nd-doped ZnCo2O4 porous films and used different methods for their characterization. It is not easy to understand some details in the manuscript.
1)The information about Nd-doped ZnCo2O4 porous film should be added. Did you compact this powder and produce the film or did you deposit this material on some substrate? What material as a current collector (substrates) did you use?
2)The same information should be added for the electrode with CNT.
3) What electrolytes did you use for CV measurements and for two electrodes (in the case of a supercapacitor)?
4) Page 1, line 14 - "X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscope, and Transmission Electron Microscope characterized the samples." Maybe it is good to rephrase this sentence.
5) Page 2, line 80 - in "2.1 Experimental Instruments" part please check the information in this paragraph. "the maximum height and the maximum diameter of the samples is 100 nm and 200 nm respectively". Did you use a nm-size sample?
6) Page 3, line 98 - what material for the working electrode did you use? It was only compacted Nd-doped ZnCo2O4 powder or did you deposit this material on some conductive electrode?
7) The quality of Figure 4 is not good. I can't see any numbers in this Figure.
8) Page 4, line 143 - should be "diffraction rings".
9) For XRD pattern analysis please add the information from the literature for this Nd-doped ZnCo2O4 phase, PDF -powder diffraction file number, structure, stoichiometry.
10) What is the concentration of Nd after electrochemical modification?
11) line 163 and Figure 6a - the scanning rate is 3 mV/s, but in line 183 - 5 mV/s.
12) In Figure 7a there is information about doped and undoped ZnCo2O4, but in text (line 187) and in line 201 there is only Nd-doped ZnCo2O4 material.
13) typos in line 207 - "the discharge curve is 135ЃA109ЃA96ЃA89ЃA83 and"
I recommend accepting it after minor revision.
Author Response
Thank you for your advice and support, our response is written in the file
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
1. Please insert a gap before starting the bracket, even in the figure caption: Specific capacitance(F/g)
2. XRD has some unidentified peaks. Please mark them
3. What are TEM maps of Zn, Co, O and Nd elements? These could be elemental mapping in the STEM mode. Kindly correct it.
4. The description of the experimental instrument is not scientific. Please rewrite the section.
5. Section: 2.2 needs to be written uniformly—language issue.
6. A comparison in Table 1 has been made taking the moderately working devices. Please compare the results with good-quality devices present in the literature.
7. In the abstract, what is fever reduction treatment?
8. Please explain why did you get the porous structure.
9. Language needs to be checked. It seems some software has been used to correct the language, and it has distorted it. Sentences are not uniformly structured.
needs improvement
Author Response
Thank you for your advice and support, our response is written in the file
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
According to the title and description, the work focuses on the synthesis of the supercapacitor material and comprehensive testing of its electrochemical properties. Rare earth elements currently have great prospects for the application of electronic devices, composite materials, in electrocatalysis and other fields. Despite the compactness of the manuscript, the authors have done a lot of capacious work and proved the undoubted advantages of doping an Nd film of mixed zinc oxide-cobalt for an asymmetric type of supercapacitor. The work, of course, should be published, but after correcting the comments, among which, unfortunately, there are quite serious ones.
1. Probably, the meaning of the title should be added: Preparation of zinc cobaltate porous films doped with Nd and the its electrochemical properties.
2. The Introduction part consists of three paragraphs. The first one contains general reasoning, and without a single reference. The latter essentially repeats Part of the Conclusion. Thus, a literary study of the tasks of the article is not enough. There is also no statement of work aims (at the end of the Introduction), but there are conclusions from the work done (where its do not belong).
3. Part 2. Recommended title: Materials and Methods. There is no information about electrochemical equipment. There are no indications of the manufacturing countries. Part 2.3 – and this must be a very important part (see the title of the manuscript), is written extremely obscurely and vaguely. It is recommended to use generally accepted terms (sweep rate (scan) instead of speed, cycles instead of turns, potential range instead of voltage window (the term window can rather be attributed to the limits of applicability of the electrolyte or to the limits of stability of the working electrode material).
4. Figure 1. Great respect for the authors that they give schemes of their working methods and techniques. The figure is drawn well and very clearly. But that is why it is not clear where the electrochemical stage of deposition is here? It is necessary to add and also explain clearly.
5. Figure 2. The image is a bit blurry. Perhaps, if this is not a drawing by the authors, then you need to specify a reference from where it is taken.
6. Line 130. Check the section numbering.
7. Figures 3 and 4. It is necessary to increase the resolution of photos. In Figure 4c, the arrows are almost invisible, and the insertion is distorted.
8. There are no separate descriptions for a, b, c,… in the captions to Figures 3,4 and 5.
9. Line 148. It is recommended to change the title of the section according to the Instructions for the authors. Despite the fact that the authors' article has a compact volume, it is desirable that section 3 itself is also better divided into logical parts according to the work performed. This will undoubtedly be more convenient for readers.
10. Line 163, Figure 6a, Figure caption: what is the sweep rate of 3 or 5 mV/s?
11. Figure 6. It is recommended to additionally specify the reference electrode along the axes.
12. In the experimental part, there are completely no sections indicating the methods and techniques by which the results were obtained for Figures 6-9.
13. Finally, many typos need to be corrected, for example: in Equation 5, Lines 98, Line 207, Line 340, etc.
Author Response
Thank you for your advice and support, our response is written in the file
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
In this work, “Preparation of zinc cobaltate porous films doped with Nd and the electrochemical properties. In my view, it would be worthwhile to publish, given that the necessary corrections and clarifications are implemented. Consequently, I suggest that this manuscript is eligible for publication with only major revisions required. Please refer to my feedback provided below.
Comment 1. The introductory section lacks proper organisation and appears hastily written. The author should undertake a thorough revision to improve its quality.
Comment 2. The authors mention the Separator that was utilized. Please explain it properly with the preparation process.
Comment 3. Discuss the poor rate capability of electrodes at high scan rates and high current density.
Comment 4. The N2 adsorption and desorption measurement is suggested to be conducted for Nd-ZnCo2O4 samples to demonstrate.
Comment 5. SEM images and TEM images are very low resolution, so change it and explain it clearly with mention.
Comment 6. Please elaborate on the XRD curve with JCPD file no and also add into XRD as a reference.
Comment 7: What is the reason for the variation in the potential window seen in the GCD curve (Figure 4C) compared to the CV curves illustrated in Figure 6B?
Comment 8. ICP is suggested to be conducted to identify further the actual amount of Nd, Zn and Co in target samples.
Comment 9. Please compare the performance of Nd-ZnCo2O4 as an Asymmetric device with other recent publications to demonstrate its advantages.
Comment 10: Several references are recommended, including Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2022, 9, 2102595; Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2022, 921, 116671; Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2023,955, 170038, Chemical Engineering Journal, 466, 2023, 143116.
Minor editing of English language required
Author Response
Thank you for your advice and support, our response is written in the file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Please complete the correction according to the following points:
8. Please correct - add to the caption to Figure 5: "(b) EDS test results of the porous Nd-ZnCo2O4.".
9. The title of Section 3 is usually "Results and discussion".
13. Check Equation 5 again. Please correct the typo: remove the degree sign at the end of the equation.
Author Response
Thank you for your support and suggestions, my changes are in the original text and reply.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Accept in present form
Accept in present form
Author Response
Thank you for your support and suggestions.
