Broadband and Wide-Angle Performance of a Perfect Absorber Using a MIM Structure with 2D MXene
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors improved the draft with the comments from the reviewer, so now i can recommend it publish on Electronics.
Author Response
Reviewer 1:
The authors improved the draft with the comments from the reviewer, so now I can recommend it publish on Electronics.
Answer: Thank you so much for recognition of our work. We will check carefully to ensure the quality of this article.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is devoted to the design and optimization of adsorber structure based on 2D Mxene material. The Authors have demonstrated a Metal-Insulator-Metal structure adsorbing radiation in the NIR region. The designed structure can be characterized by polarization sensitivity and broadband characteristics. The paper can be accepted for publication after a minor review.
First of all, the Authors claim in "Conclusion" part that the designed structure is easy to manufacture and can be applied practically. I believe this statement needs further discussion as still, after several years of R&D studies on 2D materials, there is no commercial application of the 2D-based devices. I advise to present by the AUthors some further comments regarding the practical fabrication, and the adoption of the studied in this study absorber in e.g. photovoltaic cell.
Another technical issue is presenting figures. I advise the Authors to double-check the quality of Fig. 4 as they are much different compared to other data within this paper.
Author Response
Reviewer 2:
The paper is devoted to the design and optimization of absorber structure based on 2D Mxene material. The Authors have demonstrated a Metal-Insulator-Metal structure adsorbing radiation in the NIR region. The designed structure can be characterized by polarization sensitivity and broadband characteristics. The paper can be accepted for publication after a minor review.
First of all, the Authors claim in "Conclusion" part that the designed structure is easy to manufacture and can be applied practically. I believe this statement needs further discussion as still, after several years of R&D studies on 2D materials, there is no commercial application of the 2D-based devices. I advise to present by the authors some further comments regarding the practical fabrication, and the adoption of the studied in this study absorber in e.g. photovoltaic cell.
Answer: I modified the conclusion part.
Another technical issue is presenting figures. I advise the Authors to double-check the quality of Fig. 4 as they are much different compared to other data within this paper.
Answer: Thank you very much for the scrupulous reading. I modified the Figure 4.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
I agree with the comments made by previous referees and appreciate the authors' great efforts to improve the manuscript and to answer the comments that the two previous referee raised. However, the present version still needs many corrections that may be pretty far-reaching. The necessary elucidation of the mechanism and references are absent in the manuscript to explain the obtained results. Before accepting this manuscript for publication in this journal, the following points should be addressed. Therefore, a major revision is needed to accommodate the high-quality requirements of this journal.
- Line 22-23, “With the development of science and technology, perfect absorbers have … and other fields[1].” Only one article has been cited related to this description. Many plasmonic perfect absorber structures have been published with better performance of absorption and frequency responses in NIR (e.g., Nanomaterials, 2020, 10, 493, J. Nanopart. Res. 2020, 22(9), 297 and ACS Omega, 2022, 7(1), 1139–1149). To be beneficial for the readers to know the other approaches, more references are suggested to be quoted regarding this sentence.
- Line 67-69, for the readers to follow, authors should mention the version of COMSOL Multiphysics. Besides, the size and location of preferably matched layer (PML), the size of the simulation domain, the mesh size, the light source pattern should be mentioned in the text. If possible, please show the schematic diagram of the unit cell with dashed line in Fig. 1.
- The input port and output port and the definition of absorption used in COMSOL simulations should be mentioned in the text.
- Line 75, it states that “the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx comes from the literature[26].” However, it is difficult to find the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx in Ref. [26]. For ease of readers to follow, the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx is suggested mentioned in the text.
- The notation of Ex, Ey, Hz should be denoted in Fig. 1.
- The wavelength used in Fig. 1 (c) should be mentioned in the text.
- The electric field in Fig. 3 (c) and (d) is E_x or E_y?
- Typos, e.g., line 185 “MIM structure Structural” should be “MIM structure structural”. In the same manner, please check the typos and grammar throughout this manuscript.
- Line 189, Table 1. shows the comparison of different absorbers based on the MIM structure in the near-infrared band. The performance of absorption should be included in Table 1 for comparison.
- Regarding Fig. 4, the positive-negative charge density diagram can help the readers to understand the mechanism of LSPR in the proposed structures. In this manuscript, the mechanism of the LSPR arising from the proposed structure should be improved and quote the related literature if the authors cannot perform this result using COMSOL. Several reported articles have addressed the simulated positive-negative charge density diagram (Results Phys., 2019, 15, 102567, J. Appl. Phys. 2016, 120, 093110 and Appl. Opt. 58, 2530-2539(2019)) in detail.
- Please briefly elucidate the fabrication issue of the proposed structure and cite the related references.
- The image quality of Figs. 4 (c) and 4(d) should be improved (N is blurred).
Author Response
Reviewer 3:
I agree with the comments made by previous referees and appreciate the authors' great efforts to improve the manuscript and to answer the comments that the two previous referee raised. However, the present version still needs many corrections that may be pretty far-reaching. The necessary elucidation of the mechanism and references are absent in the manuscript to explain the obtained results. Before accepting this manuscript for publication in this journal, the following points should be addressed. Therefore, a major revision is needed to accommodate the high-quality requirements of this journal.
- Line 22-23, “With the development of science and technology, perfect absorbers have … and other fields [1].” Only one article has been cited related to this description. Many plasmonic perfect absorber structures have been published with better performance of absorption and frequency responses in NIR (e.g., Nanomaterials, 2020, 10, 493, J. Nanopart. Res. 2020, 22(9), 297 and ACS Omega, 2022, 7(1), 1139–1149). To be beneficial for the readers to know the other approaches, more references are suggested to be quoted regarding this sentence.
Answer: Thank you for the proposal. I quoted the suggestion reference in this paragraph.
- Line 67-69, for the readers to follow, authors should mention the version of COMSOL Multiphysics. Besides, the size and location of preferably matched layer (PML), the size of the simulation domain, the mesh size, and the light source pattern should be mentioned in the text. If possible, please show the schematic diagram of the unit cell with dashed line in Fig. 1.
Answer: I changed this part to “We perform electromagnetic analysis using commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 for numerical simulation. We use periodic boundary conditions in the y direction to simulate the propagation of light through an infinite periodic nanostructure with open boundaries in the x direction, the plane wave incident, the perfect matching layer is located at the periodic boundary of the structure, and the mesh accuracy is 1nm.”
- The input port and output port and the definition of absorption used in COMSOL simulations should be mentioned in the text.
Answer: I added “The plane wave is incident in the YOZ plane from the X-axis.” in the text.
- Line 75, it states that “the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx comes from the literature [26].” However, it is difficult to find the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx in Ref. [26]. For ease of readers to follow, the dielectric constant of Ti3C2Tx is suggested mentioned in the text.
Answer: The permittivity is calculated indirectly by reference data.
- The notation of Ex, Ey, Hz should be denoted in Fig. 1.
Answer: Thank you very much for the advice. I modified the Figure 1.
- The wavelength used in Fig. 1 (c) should be mentioned in the text.
Answer: I add the wavelength in this sentence: “Figure 1c shows the relative shift of the resonance angle when the na changes at 1.0 μm.”
- The electric field in Fig. 3 (c) and (d) is E_x or E_y?
Answer: I state the electric field E_x in “Figure 3c and d show the absorption spectra in TE and TM modes in the electric field E_x, respectively.”
- Typos, e.g., line 185 “MIM structure Structural” should be “MIM structure structural”. In the same manner, please check the typos and grammar throughout this manuscript.
Answer: I modified to MIM structure structural in line 185.
- Line 189, Table 1 shows the comparison of different absorbers based on the MIM structure in the near-infrared band. The performance of absorption should be included in Table 1 for comparison.
Answer: I modified as advice.
- Regarding Fig. 4, the positive-negative charge density diagram can help the readers to understand the mechanism of LSPR in the proposed structures. In this manuscript, the mechanism of the LSPR arising from the proposed structure should be improved and quote the related literature if the authors cannot perform this result using COMSOL. Several reported articles have addressed the simulated positive-negative charge density diagram (Results Phys., 2019, 15, 102567, J. Appl. Phys. 2016, 120, 093110 and Appl. Opt. 58, 2530-2539(2019)) in detail.
Answer: Thank you for the suggestion. I quoted the suggestion reference in this paragraph.
- Please briefly elucidate the fabrication issue of the proposed structure and cite the related references.
Answer: Templates were obtained by electron beam etching (EBL) processing process and then batch manufacturing by nanoimprint process.
- The image quality of Figs. 4 (c) and 4(d) should be improved (N is blurred).
Answer: Thank you very much for the scrupulous reading. I modified the Figure 4.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors have addressed all the issues and modified them accordingly from the original submission. Modifications fulfill the previous revision. Therefore, I suggest accepting this manuscript.
Author Response
Thank you for the reviewer to recommend my paper.
