Corrosion Inhibition Effect of Mg-Al-pAB-LDH Coating for Steel in the Marine Environment
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript fits into the journal's aims and scope. To fit within the journal standards, however, the manuscript needs moderate revision with improvements regarding the graphical representation of some results and the used literature (bibliography). To this aim, please find attached below a list of questions and remarks that can assist the authors in improving their work.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article is interesting and well-prepared. Some remarks:
1) The thickness of the produced Mg-Al-CO3-LDH, Mg-Al-pAB-LDH coatings is not described in the text. The corrosion resistance of a coating is often influenced by its thickness.
2) Fig. 2. b-1, b-2 The Mg-Al-pAB-LDH coating has the cracks ~1-3µm. It is not mentioned in the text. Do the structure of the coating and deep cracks influence the research results?
3) Fig. 11. What is the difference between a1 - a4, also b1 - b4 examples? It is not clear what conditions influence the change of surfaces in a1 and a4, as well as surfaces in b1-b4.
4) The view of some pictures needs to be improved. The x axis is not fully seen.
5) Check the font size of the main text. There are letters of different sizes in different parts.
6) There are 12 citation sources; I think, the number of references is too low for a research paper.
Author Response
Thank you for your constructive comments; they are very helpful for this article and our future work. We have revised the manuscript and highlighted the changes in red text. Here are our point-by-point responses:
Comment 1: The thickness of the produced Mg-Al-CO3-LDH, Mg-Al-pAB-LDH coatings is not described in the text. The corrosion resistance of a coating is often influenced by its thickness.
Response 1: corrected. Added cross-sectional images and thickness descriptions.
Comment 2: Fig. 2. b-1, b-2 The Mg-Al-pAB-LDH coating has the cracks ~1-3µm. It is not mentioned in the text. Do the structure of the coating and deep cracks influence the research results?
Response 2: Added an analysis of the surface cracking conditions in the two types of samples.
Comment 3: Fig. 11. What is the difference between a1 - a4, also b1 - b4 examples? It is not clear what conditions influence the change of surfaces in a1 and a4, as well as surfaces in b1-b4.
Response 3: corrected. The labelling of Fig.11 has been modified, with detailed explanations of the differences between a1-a4.
Comment 4: The view of some pictures needs to be improved. The x axis is not fully seen.
Response 4: Corrected. The x-axis of the EDS has been supplemented. Figs. 2, 4, and 9 have been relabeled.
Comment 5: Check the font size of the main text. There are letters of different sizes in different parts.
Response 5: corrected.
Comment 6: There are 12 citation sources; I think, the number of references is too low for a research paper.
Response 6: We have expanded the literature, specifically within the introduction section, through the inclusion of scholarly work detailing the application of LDH to improve the corrosion resistance of steel.
