Magnetoelectric Properties of Lead-Free Three-Layer Structure Barium–Titanate–Piezoceramic Nickel

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper presents enhanced magnetoelectric (ME) effect in a trilayer Ni-BTO-Ni structure. The paper begins with theoretical address of the trilayer ME effect using a simplified cylindrical model, followed by experimental results and discussion. The overall quality of the work, in terms of the scientific merit and novelty, may meed the standard of the journal, however, the presentation of the data especially the experimental part need to be improved.

1. Including the theoretical discussion upfront is fine, but it seems that the experimental section is very loosely connected to the experiment. There is no fitting to any model in the experimental data. The authors need to improve the paper by enhancing the coherency of the theoretical and experimental discussions. 

2. There are 7 Figures in total but many of them can be grouped together to make a coherent presentation. The figures are also quite raw, with very unprofessional/inconsistent labeling, symbol/curve, and captions. At the moment it looks more like an experimental report. Certainly needs quite some work to make it enough  informative. 

3. Fig 1 needs a real experimental demonstration of the sample / device, in addition to the schematic illustration. 

4. Conclusion is weak, the result needs to be carefully compared with existing ME effect in other standard systems. 

 

NA

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions that helped improve the quality of our manuscript. According to your comments, we have made the following changes to the text of the manuscript:

1. Including the theoretical discussion upfront is fine, but it seems that the experimental section is very loosely connected to the experiment. There is no fitting to any model in the experimental data. The authors need to improve the paper by enhancing the coherency of the theoretical and experimental discussions.

We agree with your remark that we did not adjust the experimental data. We performed theoretical data modeling and experimental measurements. The obtained calculated result coincides with the experimental measurements, which is shown in the graphs.

2. There are 7 Figures in total but many of them can be grouped together to make a coherent presentation. The figures are also quite raw, with very unprofessional/inconsistent labeling, symbol/curve, and captions. At the moment it looks more like an experimental report. Certainly needs quite some work to make it enough  informative.

Thank you. I agree with you and will review as soon as possible. Sorry for not investing in the allotted time.

3. Fig 1 needs a real experimental demonstration of the sample / device, in addition to the schematic illustration.

We agree with you, and added a sample photo.

4. Conclusion is weak, the result needs to be carefully compared with existing ME effect in other standard systems. 

Thanks for your comment. We made a change to the conclusion to summarize the data presented and improve the article.

Reviewer 2 Report

In this work, the results of the magnetoelectric interaction research in three-layer structures Ni–piezoceramic BaTiO₃–Ni are presented. The research has reached some valuable conclusions, but I have the following concerns.

1. English and grammatical errors should be rectified during the revision of the paper.

2. Important finding should be mentioned in the abstract.

3. In the introduction, what are the specific requirements for the waste of lead-containing materials put forward by the environmental protection orientation of modern technology? And the motivation for the research is unclear.

4. The digital pictures are missing scale bars. They should be added to the figures.

5. The data and picture styles in the manuscript should be kept uniform.

6. Figs 5 and 6 should be combined for typesetting. And the Abscissa of figure 6 should be placed outside the data block diagram.

7. Some of the letters in some graphs are too small to read. They should be enlarged for better visibility.

8. Ideas should be expressed in a simple way. It takes hours instead of minutes to disentangle the key ideas of the paper.

In short, the whole paper has many shortcomings. In addition to the above problems, the ME characteristics of layered Ni-BaTiO₃-Ni prepared by gluing method and the ME eigenvalues of similar structures based on lead-containing PZTCe-199 structure are not compared in the study, but it is concluded that they are equivalent in order of magnitude, which is obviously unreasonable. It needs careful modification to meet the publication requirements of the Journal of Composites Science.

English and grammatical errors should be rectified during the revision of the paper.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions that helped improve the quality of our manuscript. According to your comments, we have made the following changes to the text of the manuscript:

1. English and grammatical errors should be rectified during the revision of the paper.

Thank you for your comment. I hope that we were able to improve the submitted materials.

.

4-7 Thank you for your help, we will work on the drawings and send the corrected version as soon as possible.

2. Important finding should be mentioned in the abstract.

Thank you. We have supplemented the annotation with the most important properties of the composite.

3. In the introduction, what are the specific requirements for the waste of lead-containing materials put forward by the environmental protection orientation of modern technology? And the motivation for the research is unclear.

We tried to take into account the comments, and made changes to the introduction

4. The digital pictures are missing scale bars. They should be added to the figures.
5. The data and picture styles in the manuscript should be kept uniform.
6. Figs 5 and 6 should be combined for typesetting. And the Abscissa of figure 6 should be placed outside the data block diagram.
7. Some of the letters in some graphs are too small to read. They should be enlarged for better visibility.

Thank you for your help, we will work on the drawings and send the corrected version as soon as possible

8. Ideas should be expressed in a simple way. It takes hours instead of minutes to disentangle the key ideas of the paper.

We added efficiency values for PZT ceramics - 90 mV/(cm·Oe) and tried to improve the materials.

Thank you very much for your work.

Let us know your opinion, perhaps - whether we expect the publication of materials.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The author has revised the manuscript to the level of publication standard. No further comments from the referee.

Reviewer 2 Report

The author has modified as required and can accept.