Morphology of Composite Fe@Au Submicron Particles, Produced with Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis and Potential for Synthesis of Fe@Au Core–Shell Particles
, Bernd Friedrich 4, Žiga Jelen 1,5, Ivan Anžel 1 and Rebeka Rudolf 1,2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Editor,
I accurately reviewed the article
Title Morphology of composite Fe@Au submicron particles, produced with Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis and potential for synthesis of Fe@Au core-shell particles
submitted to Materials.
The topic is interesting and suitable for the Journal, but the authors have to solve some issues.
The Introduction is lacking on the core-shell and composite nanomaterials overview, and in particular about metal-polymer nanoparticles preparations and applications. It would be useful for the readers to have some recent references on this topic. Just as examples:
Fully Crystalline Faceted Fe–Au Core–Shell Nanoparticles 2015Nano Letters 15(8) Bioconjugation of gold-polymer core-shell nanoparticles with bovine serum amine oxidase for biomedical applications; Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 134 (2015) 314-321 Nanoscale Architecture of Bimetallic Hybrid Fe-Au Nanostructures with and without 1,4-Phenylene Diisocyanide Pre-Functionalization 2015 RSC Advances 5(40) Y3+ embebbed in polymeric nanoparticles: morphology, dimension and stability of composite colloidal system; Colloid and Surface A 532 (2017) 125-131 Composite Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials; Chem. Rev. 2014, 114,9853-9889 Plasmon controlled shaping of gold nanoparticles aggregates by femtosecond laser induced melting; J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2018, 9, pp 5002–5008 Enhanced Fluorescence Emission and Magnetic Alignment Control of Biphasic Functionalized Composite Janus Particles; Volume36, Issue1, 2019, 1800311
Experimental part
More details on the quantities and concentrations used for the characterizations must be provided
Results
Have the authors thought about testing the magnetic properties?
Discussion
the authors should highlight the novelty and the application aspect of the material
Table 1 could be moved in Supporting Material
English must be reviewed a few sentences are too long
In conclusion, the article will be published only after major revisions.
best regards
Author Response
Point 1: The Introduction is lacking on the core-shell and composite nanomaterials overview, and in particular about metal-polymer nanoparticles preparations and applications. It would be useful for the readers to have some recent references on this topic. Just as examples:
Fully Crystalline Faceted Fe–Au Core–Shell Nanoparticles 2015Nano Letters 15(8) Bioconjugation of gold-polymer core-shell nanoparticles with bovine serum amine oxidase for biomedical applications; Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 134 (2015) 314-321 Nanoscale Architecture of Bimetallic Hybrid Fe-Au Nanostructures with and without 1,4-Phenylene Diisocyanide Pre-Functionalization 2015 RSC Advances 5(40) Y3+ embebbed in polymeric nanoparticles: morphology, dimension and stability of composite colloidal system; Colloid and Surface A 532 (2017) 125-131 Composite Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials; Chem. Rev. 2014, 114,9853-9889 Plasmon controlled shaping of gold nanoparticles aggregates by femtosecond laser induced melting; J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2018, 9, pp 5002–5008 Enhanced Fluorescence Emission and Magnetic Alignment Control of Biphasic Functionalized Composite Janus Particles; Volume36, Issue1, 2019, 1800311
Response 1: The core-shell and composite nanomaterials overview was expanded with a focus on Iron oxide-Gold composite particles, with added references. Some references from the suggested literature was also added. Since the paper focuses on Iron oxide particles, with a surface modification of Gold nanoparticles, the metal-polymer nanoparticles preparations and applications were not included, as the authors believe that readers could go elsewhere for this information.
Experimental part
Point 2: More details on the quantities and concentrations used for the characterizations must be provided
Response 2: Added details about the quantities of the powder samples used for characterizations. The changes to the manuscript are colored in red.
Results
Point 3: Have the authors thought about testing the magnetic properties?
Response 3: The paper is more focused on the possibilities of producing Fe@Au core-shell nanoparticles, while the magnetic properties will be discussed in future works. The discussion was extended with the possibilities for further work with USP along with magnetic properties and the application of the produced nanomaterials.
Discussion
Point 4: the authors should highlight the novelty and the application aspect of the material
Response 4: Added a paragraph discussing about the application of the produced nanomaterials.
Point 5: Table 1 could be moved in Supporting Material
Response 5: The presentation of precursor solution concentrations used in the experiments and the Fe/Au ratios is an important aspect for the experimental section, since this results in the various morphologies of the produced particles.
Point 6: English must be reviewed a few sentences are too long
Response 6: Some sentences were changed. English was also proofread by a native speaker. The changes to the manuscript are colored in red.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript "Morphology of composite Fe@Au submicron particles, produced with Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis and potential for synthesis of Fe@Au core-shell particles", written by Majerič et al., describes a preparation of FexOy@Au nanocomposites using USP process. The theme is interesting and produces materials are well characterized.
I only suggest to better characterize also the magnetic properties of this nanomaterial as they can be important in further applications.
Author Response
Point 1: I only suggest to better characterize also the magnetic properties of this nanomaterial as they can be important in further applications.
Response 1: The paper is more focused on the possibilities of producing Fe@Au core-shell nanoparticles, while the magnetic properties will be discussed in future works. The discussion was extended with the possibilities for further work with USP along with magnetic properties determination and the possibilities for application of the produced nanomaterials.
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authors,
thank you for your well-prepared manuscript. Your presentation is very interesing, clear and scientifically sound.
However, I have some formal suggestions:
Figure 2 is hard to read, it appears to be blurry. I propose to increase font size Same for Fig. 5, the indices are hardly readable
Author Response
Point 1: Figure 2 is hard to read, it appears to be blurry. I propose to increase font size Same for Fig. 5, the indices are hardly readable
Response 1: The font sizes in Figures 2 and 5 were increased. A sharper image was given for Figure 2.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors have solved the problems and the article is now ready for publication
Author Response
No reply needed.
