Study on the Behavior Mechanism of K and Na during the Synthesis of VN Alloy
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
see attached
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewers,
Thank you for your nice comments on our article and giving us the opportunity to revise this manuscript. It is with excitement that I resubmit to you a revised version of manuscript “Study on the Behavior Mechanism of K and Na During the Synthesis of VN alloy (metals-2020447)” for the Metals. Based on your suggestions and comments, we tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. The corresponding descriptions were added by red text in the revised manuscript. Our detailed point-by-point responses to the constructive comments are listed below:
Reviewer #1
(1) Abstract: (i) The sentence “that K and Na exist mainly in the form of decavanadate” should read “K and Na are mainly present as counter-ions of decavanadate”?
(ii) The remarks “that K and Na exist mainly in the form of decavanadate” and “while K and Na exist in the form of water-soluble oxides in V2O3” (a) contradict each other and (b) the oxides of Na and K are not water soluble; in contact with water, K2O and Na2O react to form hydroxides.
Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. We have made certain modifications to this section based on your comments, this section is marked in red.
(2) Line 45: The sentence “and the addition of vanadium is less and the cost is lower”
Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. We have revised this section, which is marked in red.
(3) Line 51: “so it is not conductive” ??
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, we were really sorry for our careless mistakes. The corresponding descriptions were added by red text in the revised manuscript.
(4) Lines 89-90: The compounds addressed are vanadium carbide, nitride, phosphide and sulphide?
Response: Thank you for your careful work. Some of the compounds involved are vanadium carbide, nitriding, phosphating and sulfides,.
(5) Line 97: There is a Chinese symbol in this line.
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, we were really sorry for our careless mistakes. The corresponding descriptions were added by red text in the revised manuscript.
(6) Line 98: Provide the formula for dodecavanadate.
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have provided the formula for dodecavanadate ( Na4V12O32) this part is marked in red.
(7) Line 103: oligovanadate (rather than polyvanadate)
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, we were really sorry for our careless mistakes. The corresponding descriptions were added by red text in the revised manuscript.
(8) Line 106: APV stands for ammonium polyvanadate?
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. APV stands for ammonium polyvanadate, this part is marked in red.
(9) Line 115: Really the elements Na and K? This would imply a high reactivity and thus instability of the V2O5/K, Na phase. – Rather, Na+ and K+ (Na2O and K2O) should be present.
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have supplemented the related analysis, this part is marked in red.
(10) Line 122: V6O13 – this is not VIV.
Response: Thank you for your careful work. As the reviewer said, this is indeed common sense. The phase composition is V6O12 instead of V6O13, this part is marked in red.
(11) Abscissa in Figs. 4 and 5: What does 2theta refer to? Fig. 6 right: The triangles (upside/downside) should be adapted
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have modified Figs. 2, 3, and 6, this part is marked in red.
(12) Line 159: “prepared from vanadium oxide”
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, this inaccurate expression has since been modified, this part is marked in red.
(13) Legend to Fig. 7: 2 theta (instead of 2th eta)
Response: Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. As suggested by the reviewer, we have changed it, this part is marked in red.
(14) Figure 8 lacks clarity
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, we have changed the Fig. 8.
(15) Line 208: The sentence “K and Na oxides are both derived from vanadium oxide” lacks clarity
Response: Thank you for your careful work. We have supplemented it.
(16) Eqns. (1) and (2). Replace = for
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have changed it, this part is marked in red.
(17) Lines 220/221: “nitriding reaction” ??
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, this inaccurate expression has since been modified, this part is marked in red.
(18) Line 223: The reaction equations (9), (10) and (11) are missing.
Response: Thank you for your careful work, we were really sorry for our careless mistakes. We have carefully checked the number of the equation.
(19) Line 228: eqns. (12) and (13) are missing.
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, we were really sorry for our careless mistakes. We have carefully checked the number of the equation.
(20) Lines 230 and 231: The issue addressed here lacks clarity
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have supplemented it.
(21) Eqns. (7) and (8): Not equilibrated
Response: Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. As suggested by the reviewer, we have supplemented the equations (7) and (8), this part is marked in red.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The author’s paper entitled “Study on the Behavior Mechanism of K and Na During the Synthesis of VN alloy” is timely. I would recommend the suggestions described below:
1) Abstract should be the mirror of the review and not a kind of introduction. I would recommend the authors to rewrite the abs. Avoid imprecise term, such as the degree is stronger…but how much? 10%?. 2-fold?
2) At the end of the intro, it is also not clear what is the main message and relevant points and highlights of the paper that should be emphasize at this stage. Clarify the specific objectives of the paper.
3) The paper includes zero references from the last 5 years! References should be updated. Moreover, references for some vanadium metals species such as decavanadate could be updated also for biological and/or environmental applications as well as decavanadate against corrosion. See for example Pessoa et al, Coord Chem Rev (CCR) 2021; and/or Aureliano et al CCR, 2021 and 2022 about oxometalates and oxometalates complexes with emerging biomedical activities and/or applications, its proteins interactions and putative mechanism of action, for instance in melanoma (Sousa-Coelho et al, JIB 2022). That would turn the paper with a larger scope and interest for the researchers.
4) The formula and/or also the structure of V10 and V12 should be given.
5) I would also like to suggest that the authors could eventually include at the introduction a timeline figure about these studies on order to emphasize what was done and what was not done yet with the this system regarding Na and K when V10 and V12 are present. That would be besides pedagogical an advantage for future citations in the field.
6) Finally, does the presence pf V10 and/or V12 prevent corrosion or not?
Author Response
Dear Reviewers,
Thank you for your nice comments on our article and giving us the opportunity to revise this manuscript. It is with excitement that I resubmit to you a revised version of manuscript “Study on the Behavior Mechanism of K and Na During the Synthesis of VN alloy (metals-2020447)” for the Metals. Based on your suggestions and comments, we tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. The corresponding descriptions were added by red text in the revised manuscript. Our detailed point-by-point responses to the constructive comments are listed below:
Reviewer #2
(1) Abstract should be the mirror of the review and not a kind of introduction. I would recommend the authors to rewrite the abs. Avoid imprecise term, such as the degree is stronger…but how much? 10%?. 2-fold?
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding,
(2) At the end of the intro, it is also not clear what is the main message and relevant points and highlights of the paper that should be emphasize at this stage. Clarify the specific objectives of the paper. We have revised this part.
Response: Thank you for your kind suggestion. We have revised the introduction, which will be more conducive to highlighting the focus of our research and the significance of the research results.
(3) The paper includes zero references from the last 5 years! References should be updated. Moreover, references for some vanadium metals species such as decavanadate could be updated also for biological and/or environmental applications as well as decavanadate against corrosion. See for example Pessoa et al, Coord Chem Rev (CCR) 2021; and/or Aureliano et al CCR, 2021 and 2022 about oxometalates and oxometalates complexes with emerging biomedical activities and/or applications, its proteins interactions and putative mechanism of action, for instance in melanoma (Sousa-Coelho et al, JIB 2022). That would turn the paper with a larger scope and interest for the researchers.
Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. We reviewed these references in detail and they were added to the revision, and the relevant references have been added to the revised manuscript.
(4) The formula and/or also the structure of V10 and V12 should be given.
Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. We have provided the formula for dodecavanadate ( Na4V12O32).
(5) I would also like to suggest that the authors could eventually include at the introduction a timeline figure about these studies on order to emphasize what was done and what was not done yet with the this system regarding Na and K when V10 and V12 are present. That would be besides pedagogical an advantage for future citations in the field.
Response: We sincerely appreciate the valuable advice. However, this part does not have much significance to the whole research content. We will consider your suggestion in our future research.
(6) Finally, does the presence pf V10 and/or V12 prevent corrosion or not?
Response: Thanks for the kind reminding, the presence of V10 and V12 does not prevent corrosion.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
