Role of Electrochemical Precipitation Parameters in Developing Mixed-Phase Battery-Grade Nickel Hydroxide
, G. Lilishree Achary 1, Tondepu Subbaiah 2,*, Raja Kishore Paramguru 1 and Sanat Kumar Roy 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis interesting work studied the role of electrochemical precipitation parameters in mixed phase Ni(OH)2. The authors found that current density act as a regulator to control the crystal structure of β-, α- Ni(OH)2, or a mixture of them. Meanwhile, this work investigated the effect of Ni concentration, agitation in electrolyte on properties of Ni(OH)2. The optimized product exhibits desired properties such as improved discharge capacity. This manuscript is interesting and well written with convincing results. Therefore, I recommend to accept after minor revision.
Here are my comments in detail:
1. In Experimental, I suggest to reorganize “Materials” and “Method” parts to make it more clear. Some contents in Materials actually belongs to Method, such as electrolytic solution preparation and nickel hydroxide production.
2. In Experimental, I wonder if two electrode or three electrode systems are utilized? Please note that.
3. In figure 2, please label in figure to show which is line (a) and which is line (b).
4. In figure 2, can authors provide more data points to better show the trend?
5. In figure 4, some inserted words are misplaced, like “(102)”, “(111)” . Please correct them.
6. In figure 5, is there α- (001) or α-(003) for the XRD peak at 15>2θ >10?
7. I wonder if the authors have tried to use XRD techniques to quantify the ratio of β-, α- Ni(OH)2 in the mixed phases, for example Figure 4 and Figure 5.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript "Role of Electrochemical Precipitation Parameters in Developing Mixed-Phase Battery Grade Nickel Hydroxide" written by C. K. Sarangi et al. studied the effects of different electrochemical precipitation parameters on the synthesized nickel hydroxide. Particle size, tap density, discharge capacity, and some other material properties were investigated. The topic can be interesting to the field. However, there are several concerns that need to be addressed before the paper can be considered to get accepted.
1. Repeating experiments is important for this kind of study. No error bar appears in this work. Is it possible to repeat the experiment and add error bars/std. to the tables and figures?
2. Figure 4 appears to be low-resolution. Also, the axis titles and some annotations appear to be different from the original figure. Figure 4 and Figure 5 are not plotted with the same format, even though they are both XRD data. Please check and keep the format the same.
3. Please add standard XRD patterns (can be from ref.) into Figure 4 and Figure 5 for better demonstration.
4. Any chances to get some particle size from SEM images as support for the particle sizes? Even if the particle size has been characterized by a particle analyzer, it will be better to get some additional data if possible.
5. Lines 256-257 mentioned that the difference in the materials' morphology can be due to the intercalation of water molecules. Any way to confirm it? If not, are there any references that can be cited here?
6. Please also provide the discharge curves from the discharge capacity evaluation experiment.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors answered all my questions and I don't have more questions regarding the manuscript content. However, I didn't see any figures/tables in the revised manuscript, and the authors mentioned that several figures and tables had been updated. Please contact the editors and upload the updated figures and tables.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
