Cross-Linked Polymeric Gels and Nanocomposites: New Materials and Phenomena Enabling Technological Applications

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Manuscript (This review) have poor standard to publish in SCI journal. It needs much more improvement. No page and line numbers difficult to give comments. I don’t think so much interesting points information are available for readers.

So many key words. Please reduce tothe  max. 6.

In introduction; “The polymer chains are hydrophilic but the linked functional groups could add charge (positive or negative) or make the gel * more hydrophilic or more hydrophobic. Rewrite this sentence be specific cases with related polymers as a example”.

Introduction section is not informative. Please make it more specific by discussing with previous research owing to this aim and goal of this paper.

In review paper, where the materials and methods section comes. Please correct it with proper headings.

Section 2.1 what is meaning of bulk gels. Please specify this heading. For readers understanding make all types of bulk gels into a figure or table with their interesting properties including applications.

Insert this paper also in text in the manuscript https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100702, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA09730F

Section 3 heading?

Section 8 cites this paper against the swelling formula https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-022-02454-w, and Carbohydrate Polymers 257 (2021) 117633.

Section 3 authors describe methods of fabrication make it into a figure or table with their interesting properties including applications.

Table format is wrong check journal guide lines.

Conclusion section is more no meaning. no specify.

All figures are expt. Work or copied from others but in review paper how this is possible to put other work without publication permissions.

Section 5 no sentence on future directions it is the general.

What is section 6. Patents can cite in references list.

In summary, authors need to carefully revise the manuscript, and check the grammar, and all figure tables with contents. 

Author Response

Review 1

Extensive editing of English language and style required

The English usage have been thoroughly checked and edited

Manuscript (This review) have poor standard to publish in SCI journal. It needs much more improvement. No page and line numbers difficult to give comments. I don’t think so much interesting points information are available for readers.

We have made significant changes to the manuscript and took into account all the reviewers comments (see below).

So many key words. Please reduce tothe  max. 6.

The number of keywords is reduced to 6

In introduction; “The polymer chains are hydrophilic but the linked functional groups could add charge (positive or negative) or make the gel * more hydrophilic or more hydrophobic. Rewrite this sentence be specific cases with related polymers as a example”.

Corrected.

Introduction section is not informative. Please make it more specific by discussing with previous research owing to this aim and goal of this paper.

The introduction is rewritten.

In review paper, where the materials and methods section comes. Please correct it with proper headings.

The materials and methods try to summarize typical experimental procedures used in the field. The heading is changed to reflect that.

Section 2.1 what is meaning of bulk gels. Please specify this heading. For readers understanding make all types of bulk gels into a figure or table with their interesting properties including applications.

The heading is changed to Macroscopic Gels.

Insert this paper also in text in the manuscript https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100702, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA09730F

Tang, L., Wang, L., Yang, X., Feng, Y., Li, Y., Feng, W. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based smart hydrogels: Design, properties and applications(2021) Progress in Materials Science, 115, art. no. 100702.  DOI: 10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100702

Included  as ref 7

Zhang, Z., Tang, L., Chen, C., Yu, H., Bai, H., Wang, L., Qin, M., Feng, Y., Feng, W.  Liquid metal-created macroporous composite hydrogels with self-healing ability and multiple sensations as artificial flexible sensors (2021) Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9 (2), pp. 875-883. DOI: 10.1039/d0ta09730f

Included as ref 57 with a phrase to link to the text

Section 3 heading?

3. Results and discussion

Section 8 cites this paper against the swelling formula https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-022-02454-w, and Carbohydrate Polymers 257 (2021) 117633.

Panda, P.K., Dash, P., Biswal, A.K., Chang, Y.-H., Misra, P.K., Yang, J.-M. Synthesis and Characterization of Modified Poly(vinyl alcohol) Membrane and Study of Its Enhanced Water-Induced Shape-Memory Behavior. (2022) Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 30 (8), pp. 3409-3419. DOI: 10.1007/s10924-022-02454-w Panda, P.K., Yang, J.-M., Chang, Y.-H. Water-induced shape memory behavior of poly (vinyl alcohol) and p-coumaric acid-modified water-soluble chitosan blended membrane (2021) Carbohydrate Polymers, 257, art. no. 117633, DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.117633 The references suggested are inserted (as 53 and 54) with a phrase to clarify the point.  We thank the reviewer to point to those references because we also re-measure the dry weight before and after in the case of organic solvents, where some loss is more likely to occur, but we found no loss. The point is discussed in section 3.33. Moreover, we change Figure 4.A from %Sw into a molar solvent absorption (mol/g) to make a fair comparison of solvents with different weights.

Section 3 authors describe methods of fabrication make it into a figure or table with their interesting properties including applications.

We agree that the suggestion will improve the manuscript. Thank you. A summary table is added to section 3

Table format is wrong check journal guide lines.

The Tables were made using the template form of Macromol. The point is raised in the cover letter to the editor for him to decide in matters of format.

Conclusion section is more no meaning. no specify.

We tried to summarize the questions posed by the results and the answers to those questions with emphasis in the disruption of implicit or explicit paradigms in the field (e.g. if in-situ polymerization of a conductive polymer inside the gel creates a semi-interpenetrated network or a nanocomposite).

All figures are expt. Work or copied from others but in review paper how this is possible to put other work without publication permissions.

All figures are made with our own data and have not been published before. Therefore, do not require permission for publication.

Section 5 no sentence on future directions it is the general.

A sentence was added to head the section and to explain the goal.

What is section 6. Patents can cite in references list.

The template of Macromol specifies that patents coming out of the work should be cited in this section. Again, the point is raised in the cover letter for the editor to decide how to format the manuscript.

 In summary, authors need to carefully revise the manuscript, and check the grammar, and all figure tables with contents. 

The grammar and contents of figures and tables were thoroughly checked.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for sharing your work with the journal, I have the following comments to improve the work:

2. materials: second line: nacroporous>> typo

2.1 cryogelation: why do we want the cooling to occur directionally from both extremes while isolating the syringe walls?

Page 9 below figure 1 caption: "that the reaction occurs at all at such low temperatures" please rephrase this part of the sentence.

Other than that I just want to note two points:

1-This is a pretty lengthy paper and might be better suited for a book chapter, if you still feel like it can be written as a paper I highly suggest focusing on a few points of interest and diving deeper into it, as it is right now it shares a lot of scattered information to digest.

2-I noticed that there is a lot of citations and referencing work from the same research group, please try to diversify the citations by discussing research from other groups. 

Thank you again for your hard work, I really enjoyed the paper and the level of detail in it.

Author Response

Review 2

English language and style are fine/minor spell check required

corrected

Thank you for sharing your work with the journal, I have the following comments to improve the work:

2. materials: second line: nacroporous>> typo

corrected

2.1 cryogelation: why do we want the cooling to occur directionally from both extremes while isolating the syringe walls?

A  parapgraph is added to explain the used of directional cryogelation and the title of the subsection is changed.

Page 9 below figure 1 caption: "that the reaction occurs at all at such low temperatures" please rephrase this part of the sentence.

rephrased

Other than that I just want to note two points:

1-This is a pretty lengthy paper and might be better suited for a book chapter, if you still feel like it can be written as a paper I highly suggest focusing on a few points of interest and diving deeper into it, as it is right now it shares a lot of scattered information to digest.

We agree that it is lengthy because it tries to review the contributions of our group to the field which span 39 published papers and some unpublished data. However, we tried to frame the work as a research program trying to answer some questions instead of just describing research. Moreover, in the age of digital publishing we feel that the length is not so critical for the  publisher, and publication in Macromol  allows reaching a much wider audience than a chapter.

2-I noticed that there is a lot of citations and referencing work from the same research group, please try to diversify the citations by discussing research from other groups. 

The manuscript is a feature paper intending to mainly review the contribution of our group and how the work raise some relevant points in the field. However, less than 40 % of the references belong to the group since pertinent work in the same subfields is cited and discussed.

Thank you again for your hard work, I really enjoyed the paper and the level of detail in it.

Thank you, your review is work is appreciated

Reviewer 3 Report

Functional cross-linked gels are synthesized by homo and copolymerization of acrylamides and nanocomposites can be made by dispersing nanoparticles (metallic, graphene, nanotubes, and conducting polymers) inside the gels.
The publication on these issues was prepared perfectly and the presented technological solutions fully justify the publication of the manuscript. A detailed discussion of the methods of obtaining, functionalisation and examination of a very wide range of properties of new materials, followed by a discussion of the applications of this type of new materials, gives the reader the opportunity to fully evaluate the new materials. Work in this regard covers all aspects of the application of the new material. I encourage the authors of the publication to add to text a discussion on the durability and stability of this type of materials over time and to propose methods of disposal / recycling of material with potential industrial application. These issues are currently very important from the point of view of ecology and environmental protection.

Author Response

Review 3

English language and style are fine/minor spell check required

corrected

Functional cross-linked gels are synthesized by homo and copolymerization of acrylamides and nanocomposites can be made by dispersing nanoparticles (metallic, graphene, nanotubes, and conducting polymers) inside the gels.
The publication on these issues was prepared perfectly and the presented technological solutions fully justify the publication of the manuscript. A detailed discussion of the methods of obtaining, functionalisation and examination of a very wide range of properties of new materials, followed by a discussion of the applications of this type of new materials, gives the reader the opportunity to fully evaluate the new materials. Work in this regard covers all aspects of the application of the new material.

Thank you

I encourage the authors of the publication to add to text a discussion on the durability and stability of this type of materials over time and to propose methods of disposal / recycling of material with potential industrial application. These issues are currently very important from the point of view of ecology and environmental protection.

We agree totally with the concern raised by the reviewer. Some paragraphs and references are added to the future outlook section to address this very important issue.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Authors improve the manuscript to a satisfactory level.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for addressing my comments,