Influence of Fluorine and Nitrogen Co-Doping on the Structural and Morphological Properties of Sol-Gel ZnO Films

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is presenting an interesting investigation on F, N doped ZnO films prepared by the sol-gel method. A few comments and questions are due before we proceed with this submission:

1-what's the relation between 002 peaks and Nitrogen introduction? can you extract this as a linear relationship or an equation?

2-how you ensure the stress variation is determined mainly by the intrinsic stress? in ZnO films.

3-in introduction, the citation is essential to https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12060823

4-XRD analysis, why the film crystallization increases with the annealing temperature. could you explain this in relation to Nitrogen's electronegativity? is there any effect of N in this mechanism?

when authors take my comments in and reply to my comments, i can reconsider my decision. no comment must be skipped or the manuscript is rejected.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript presents an interesting study about the ZnO:N:F films and the impact of co-doping on the structural, vibrational and optical properties of this films. However, the paper needs minor revisions before it is processed further, some comments follow:

Abstract

The abstract must be improved. Please highlight the novelty of the study;

 Introduction section

Line 29. Please introduce citations in a specific position to ensure clear correspondence between the affirmations from the introduction section and the previous publication. Moreover, to avoid this type of citing, please cite review type of studies.

Results and discussion

Figures 9, 10 and 11. Please introduce figures labels in order to highlight the interest zone for the reader.

 Conclusion

Add some suggestions and limitations. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Editor,

There are almost sufficient works have been done in this paper with the title of "Fluorine and Nitrogen Co-Doping Effect on Structural and Morphological Properties of Sol-Gel ZnO Films" to achieve a useful product which in my view it is good to have accepted in the journal of coatings. However, there are some parts that needed to be corrected which are sorted below:

1. The text of the article is very badly written. Revision is required.

2. The structure of the title is not well defined. Please correct it.

3. The abstract is incomplete, it should contain all of detailed information about the prominent achievements of the experiments including numeric results.

4. In the introduction section, it should be better to talk about the advantage of sol-gel method. My suggestion is to use these references:

Najafi et al., Improvement of ZrB2 nanopowder synthesis by sol-gel method via zirconium alkoxide/boric acid precursors, Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, vol.48, 2022

Najafi et al., Influence of pH and temperature parameters on the sol-gel synthesis process of meso porous ZrC nanopowder, Ceramics International, vol.48, number18, 2022

5. In the results and discussion section, Equations 1, 2, and 3 are not addressed in the text, and Equation 3 should be modified.

6. In the results and discussion section, The caption of figures 9, 10, and 11 must be written in full (a, b,...). Please correct.

7. In the conclusion, the writer should bring their numeric results with their discussions altogether.

8. Unfortunately, I could not find any novelty in this work. Please elucidate it.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

my comments were properly addressed i can accept it for publication now