Electrochemical Performance of Aluminum Doped Ni_1−xAl_xCo₂O₄ Hierarchical Nanostructure: Experimental and Theoretical Study

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. The topic was interesting. But NiCo₂O₄ gives good results then why Al doping is necessary can be mentioned earlier than the conclusion part. It can be mentioned in the abstract section then readers will understand what is the purpose of doping aluminum. As I was reading the abstract it was giving me the expression that incorporating Al doping with NiCo₂O₄ will provide electrode better performance. But in the conclusion it was mentioned that Al will be replacing cobalt. So please clarify the conclusion and abstract so that readers can correlate clearly what the experimental results and conclusion wants to achieve.
2. At Line 254 'nanostructures' font might be adjusted to match others.
3. The figure font size and style can be made consistent throughout the paper for better viewing.
4. Reference section: some of the journals year has been highlighted and some of them are not. You can be consistent with similar format style.

Author Response

• The topic was interesting. But NiCo₂O₄gives good results then why Al doping is necessary can be mentioned earlier than the conclusion part. It can be mentioned in the abstract section then readers will understand what is the purpose of doping aluminum. As I was reading the abstract it was giving me the expression that incorporating Al doping with NiCo₂O₄ will provide electrode better performance. But in the conclusion it was mentioned that Al will be replacing cobalt. So please clarify the conclusion and abstract so that readers can correlate clearly what the experimental results and conclusion wants to achieve.

Reply: Worked on the manuscript for this part and the text are highlighted in blue color.

• At Line 254 'nanostructures' font might be adjusted to match others.

Reply: Corrected

• The figure font size and style can be made consistent throughout the paper for better viewing.

Reply: Made consistent in revised manuscript.

• Reference section: some of the journals year has been highlighted and some of them are not. You can be consistent with similar format style.

Reply: Worked on it.

Reviewer 2 Report

Developing new electrode materials is very important for the real application of supercapacitors. This paper prepared the Al doped Ni_1-xAl_xCo₂O₄ nanomaterials using a simple hydrothermal method, and systematically studied their crystalline phases, morphologies, electrical properties and band structure. Before the publication in Processes, some suggestions are as follows.

(1) The morphologies of samples were varied with amount of dopant Al, could the authors give an explanation.

(2) Some works on doped NiCo₂O₄ with various transition metals have been reported, for example: Chem. Eng. J. 307 (2017) 300-310; J. Colloid Interf. Sci. 596 (2021) 89-99. These works are suggested to be referred.

Author Response

Developing new electrode materials is very important for the real application of supercapacitors. This paper prepared the Al doped Ni_1-xAl_xCo₂O₄ nanomaterials using a simple hydrothermal method, and systematically studied their crystalline phases, morphologies, electrical properties and band structure. Before the publication in Processes, some suggestions are as follows.

• The morphologies of samples were varied with amount of dopant Al, could the authors give an explanation.

Reply: Worked on the manuscript for this part and text are highlighted by blue color.

• Some works on doped NiCo₂O₄with various transition metals have been reported, for example: Chem. Eng. J. 307 (2017) 300-310; J. Colloid Interf. Sci. 596 (2021) 89-99. These works are suggested to be referred.

Reply: Included reference in the revised manuscript and highlighted by blue color.