Journal

Physical Sciences Reviews

Editor-in-Chief: Edwin Zondervan
Edited by: Amit Kumar , Girish Kumar Gupta , Katrina Knauer , Dirk Holtmann , Fidele Ntie-Kang and Liliana Mammino

Language: English

First published: January 20, 2016

Publication Frequency: 12 issues per year

View latest issue

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information

About this journal

Aims & Scope　

Physical Sciences Reviews (PSR) is an international journal publishing high-quality reviews in applied engineering science and technology, aiming at original, vital, interdisciplinary interests, relevance, accessibility, sophistication, and surprising conclusions. PSR also provides fast, influential and insightful interpretations of tendencies affecting science, scientists, and the wider public.　

Mission statement　

To aid engineers and scientists through fast publication of breakthroughs in any branch of science and technology, and to provide a platform for disseminating news and issues concerning science. 　

Physical Sciences Reviews publishes review articles in the applied engineering sciences (i.e. chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and environmental engineering.　　

It aims at interdisciplinary topics in or between those classical disciplines. A focus lies on applications in raw materials, energy, food and water security.　

Topics　

New energy technologies

Separation technology and thermodynamics

Reaction engineering including microreactors

Transport phenomena　and microfluidics

Design, control and system integration

Optimization methods

Predictive maintenance

Supply chains of the future

Biotechnology and bio products

Computer aided design using new paradigm in Artificial intelligence and quantum computing

Article formats　

Expert reviews　

Your Benefits

The ideal source of information for scientists and engineers striving to enter research fields in chemistry, physics, or materials science.

Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Electrical conductivity and self-heating improvement of carbon fiber composite using functionalized graphene nanoplatelets

August 25, 2025

Belal Alemour, Mohd Roshdi Hassan, Omar Badran, Hong Ngee Lim

Download PDF

The electrical conductivity of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite (CFRE) is poor and need more improvement to be used in more applications such as deicing processes. Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets (FGNP) are used in present study to improve and enhance the electrical conductivity of CFRE by coating on its top surface. The results show that the electrical conductivity of CFRE is increased significantly by 11 times with percentage of improvement of 1,110 %. The effect of Joule heating in CFRE/FGNP specimen is also studied. The results show that the self-heating of CFRE is improved after coating it with FGNP. The self-heating of CFRE/FGNP specimen becomes more efficient and homogeneous, reaching high levels of temperature, more than CFRE neat at the same applied voltage. Tensile test is also performed by applying axial tensile load on the CFRE/FGNP specimen to investigate the effect of tensile load on its electrical conductivity. Therefore, it is found that the electrical resistivity of CFRE/FGNP is increased by increasing the applied tensile load.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Energy absorption capacity of biocomposites

August 15, 2025

Munir Faraj Alkbir, Adnan Bakri, Fatihhi Januddi, Nuha Awang, Salit Mohd Sapuan, Suhad D. Salman, Alhadi A. Abosbaia, Zulhaimi Mohammad, Mmhamad Shahrul Effendy Kosnan

Download PDF

This paper explores the energy absorption capacity of biocomposites and its impact on sustainability and environmental benefits. Biocomposites consisting of natural fibers within a polymer matrix have attracted attention for their potential to improve impact resistance and safety while reducing environmental impact. This review critically examines the current state of research in this field, highlighting the importance of biocomposites in utilizing renewable and recyclable resources, energy-efficient processing, minimizing toxicological impacts, and promoting responsible waste management. This also highlights the importance of assessing emissions, including volatile organic compounds and nanoparticles, from an environmental and toxicological perspective. Additionally, the paper takes into account the degradation susceptibility of sustainable biocomposites, emphasizing the need to ensure their structural integrity during their service life and their ultimate biodegradability and assimilability during composting. The results presented in this review highlight the multifaceted advantages of biocomposites, making them a promising choice for sustainable materials with excellent energy absorption capabilities.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Biomass burning and biochar: developments in Sub-Saharan Africa

July 31, 2025

Adefarati Oloruntoba, Ahmed Olalekan Omoniyi, Olusanya Olaseinde, Jackson Nkoh Nkoh, Emmanuel Sunday Okeke, Fidelis Odedishemi Ajibade, Oluremi Ishola Adeniran, Sunday Adebayo Kolawole, Kazeem Paul Adekanye

Download PDF

Biomass burning remains widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), driven by a complex interplay of factors: technological limitations, colonial-era policies that contributed to deforestation, cultural practices, unmanaged waste disposal resulting in dumpsite fires, vegetation burning for land preparation, politically motivated fires from riots and protests, climate change-induced wildfires, and traditional cooking and heating practices rooted in poverty and insufficient land management strategies. This narrative review assesses biomass burning and biochar developments in SSA, highlighting the environmental impacts and viable mitigation strategies. Satellite data analysis reveals that Côte d’Ivoire experienced 122,014 agricultural fires from 2016 to 2019, peaking at 13,387 in February 2016. In 2019, Nigeria recorded 86,464 fires, resulting in approximately 0.019 Tg of black carbon emissions. Ghana reported 0.014 Tg of black carbon emissions, with burn scars comparable to Nigeria. Open vegetation burning in Zambia and Southern Africa during 2000 resulted in a burned area of 210,000–830,000 km 2 , emitting 18–31 Tg of carbon monoxide. SSA has a technically recoverable biomass of no less than 21,646 PJ, with approximately 1,986.5 PJ available from woody biomass, yet only 25 % of this resource is utilized, indicating significant underutilization. Biochar, derived from biomass, offers significant benefits for enhancing soil fertility, bioenergy production, carbon sequestration, and pollution control. Converting crop residues to biochar can mitigate up to 0.89 tons of CO 2 per ton of residues. In Cameroon, transforming 2,000 kg of agricultural waste into biochar could prevent 939.7 kg CO 2 eq emissions. However, SSA accounts for only 4.8 % of global biochar production, constrained by socio-economic, technological, and policy barriers. To improve biochar adoption and mitigate biomass burning impacts, this review recommends regional strategies including knowledge sharing, capacity building, policy incentives, public participation, sustainable management practices, and investment in bioenergy initiatives.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Advancement of energy harvesting using smart materials and composites

July 25, 2025

Eris E. Supeni, Azizan As’arry, Haider Jaafar Chilabi

Download PDF

This study explores advancements in energy harvesting using smart materials and composite structures, focusing on integrating shape memory alloys (SMAs) into wind turbine blades. The research investigates the structural and thermo-mechanical behavior of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites and SMA wires, emphasizing their potential in improving blade adaptability and stress recovery. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and experimental methods are utilized to evaluate deflection, load correlation, and actuation efficiency. Results demonstrate that suspended SMA wires enhance deflection recovery with lower energy loss compared to embedded configurations. A neural network model predicts deformation behavior based on load, current, and wire count. Additionally, SMA integration improves the power coefficient (Cp), bringing turbine efficiency closer to the Betz limit. Despite challenges such as nonuniform prestrain and material degradation at attachment points, this study confirms the feasibility of SMA-driven adaptive blades for wind energy applications. Future work includes optimizing SMA deployment in real-scale wind turbines through dynamic analysis and aerodynamic performance testing.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Bio-based liquid nanocomposites for electrical equipment

July 2, 2025

Rizwan A. Farade, Noor Izzri Abdul Wahab, Vasi Uddin Siddiqui, Salit Mohd Sapuan

Download PDF

Vegetable oils are being considered as bio-based transformer liquid alternatives due to their biodegradability and potential for environmental impact reduction. Considering the depletion of mineral oils due to their petroleum-based origins, it appears that bio-based liquids could be viable alternatives for transformer applications. These liquids also show promise for a variety of other electrical and heat transfer applications, such as capacitors, cables, circuit breakers, and tap changers. They are derived from a variety of plants, have cost benefits over synthetic oils and are plentiful in many places. Although bio-based liquids have many benefits, they also have limitations. This includes poor thermo-dielectric performance. Adding nanoparticles to bio-based liquids at the right concentration can address these issues. Although there has been significant progress in research and development regarding the use of nanoparticles in bio-based liquids, no single type of nanoparticle has consistently proven to outperform others in all aspects. This review explores techniques for increasing the efficacy of bio-based liquids by incorporating nanoparticles to form bio-based liquid nanocomposites. It covers contemporary experimental studies on bio-based liquid nanocomposites, including preparation, stability tests, thermal characteristics, and dielectric characteristics. Furthermore, clarifies the fundamental principles that underpin the observed findings in this promising topic. This review seeks to contribute to the growing body of research on bio-based liquid nanocomposites in the field of transformers.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Polymer composite-based turbine in wind energy harvesting

June 24, 2025

Eris Elianddy Supeni, Azizan As’arry, Haider Jaafar Chilabi

Download PDF

This study explores the development and optimization of polymer composite-based wind turbine blades, integrating glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) with shape memory alloy (SMA) to enhance performance in wind energy harvesting. Advances in materials science, aerodynamics, computational modelling, and structural analysis have been leveraged to improve blade efficiency, durability, and self-adaptive capabilities. The research employs finite element analysis (FEA) and artificial neural networks (ANN) to evaluate the mechanical behaviour of composite blades under varying loads. A graded beam model was developed to assess the effects of ply drop-off and material distribution on structural integrity. Experimental validation confirmed that SMA integration enhances blade deformation recovery, mitigating stress accumulation and improving aerodynamic stability. The results demonstrate that GFRP-SMA blades achieve a performance coefficient approaching the Betz limit (0.5923), reducing deflections and improving load response. Despite these advancements, challenges remain in optimizing SMA wire placement, adhesion, and actuation efficiency. Future work should focus on refining material interfaces, developing adaptive control mechanisms, and validating the model in full-scale wind turbine applications. This study contributes to the next-generation smart wind turbine blade design, addressing structural limitations while enhancing energy efficiency and operational resilience.
Requires Authentication Unlicensed
Licensed

Introduction to bio-based packaging materials

April 26, 2023

Asmawi Nazrin, Salit Mohd Sapuan, R. A. Ilyas, H. S. N. Hawanis, A. Khalina, Ridhwan Jumaidin, M. R. M. Asyraf, N. Mohd Nurazzi, M. N. F. Norrrahim, L. Rajeshkumar, M. S. N. Atikah

Download PDF

Bio-based materials must be studied to replace polymers from petrochemical sources in packaging applications. However, using polymers from petrochemical sources has caused consumer and environmental concerns. Therefore, synthetic and non-synthetic materials that can be used for packaging applications, scale-up methods, industrial uses, sustainability assessments, and end-of-life alternatives will all be included in this study. Synthetic polymers, e.g., polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene furanoate (PEF), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and non-synthetic polymers, including waxes, lipids, proteins, starch, cellulose, and polyhydrodialkanoate (PHAs), are some of the bio-based compounds that will be covered in this work. Besides that, more attention is paid to surface modification techniques and coatings, multilayers, biocomposites, and additives used to modify material characteristics, particularly gas and moisture barriers and biodegradability. In sum, this research offers a comprehensive analysis of bio-based packaging materials, including processing, and an assessment of sustainability and available alternatives.

Special Issue: Organocatalysis_A green tool for sustainable developments; Guest Editors: Bimal Krishna Banik and Bubun Banerjee

CiteScore	2.6	2024, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2025)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.284	2024, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2025; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.456	2024, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2025; Data Source: Scopus)

More information about journal rankings

Online Submission of Manuscripts

Your benefits of publishing with us

Color figure publication free of charge
Short turnaround times
Every article easily discoverable because of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and comprehensive abstracting and indexing services
Secure archiving by De Gruyter and the independent archiving service Portico
Professional sales and marketing activities

Please note

Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English
Before submitting your article please have a look at our Ethical Guidelines and our Copyright Transfer Agreement
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it open access
Our Repository Policy allows you to distribute 30 PDF copies of your published article to colleagues (the PDF has to include the information that it is an author's copy). Please also feel free to distribute the link to the online abstract
If you have any general questions please visit our FAQ for authors
For more detailed information please contact the PSR Editorial Office psr.editorial@degruyter.com

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!

Hybrid Open Access

In this journal, authors have the option to publish their article under an open access license. Open Access allows you as an author to retain copyright and share your findings with colleagues and interested parties worldwide without any restraints.
Please note that authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement can publish open access without paying an article processing charge (APC). More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found under the "Funding and Support" tab here.

Editors

Veronica Ambrogi (Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy)

Pierfrancesco Cerruti (Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Council of Research, Pozzuoli, Italy)

Iwona Gulaczyk (Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna, Poland)

Juin J. Liou (Department Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA)

Valentina Marturano (Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy)

Yasir Nawab (Faculty of Engineering & Technology, National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan)

Chun-Ping Xu (School of Food & Biological Engineering, Zhenzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, China)

Physical Sciences Reviews is covered by the following services:

Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Baidu Scholar
CNKI Scholar (China National Knowledge Infrastructure)
CNPIEC - cnpLINKer
Dimensions
EBSCO Discovery Service
Engineering Village
Google Scholar
Inspec
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
J-Gate
Naver Academic
Naviga (Softweco)
Primo Central (ExLibris)
Publons
QOAM (Quality Open Access Market)
ReadCube
Reaxys
ScienceON (Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information)
Scilit
SCImago (SJR)
SCOPUS
Semantic Scholar
Sherpa/RoMEO
Summon (ProQuest)
TDNet
TEMA Technik und Management
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory/ulrichsweb
WanFang Data
WorldCat (OCLC)
X-MOL
Yewno Discover

Online Submission of Manuscripts

Journal information

Additional information

eISSN:

2365-659X

Language:

English

Publisher:

De Gruyter

Additional information

First published:

January 20, 2016

Publication Frequency:

12 issues per year

eISSN: 2365-659X

Audience(s) for this journal

Graduate students, researchers and engineers in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Bio-Engineering and Industrial Chemistry.

Physical Sciences Reviews

Overview

About this journal

Your Benefits

Ahead of Publication / Just Accepted

Issues

Ranking

Submit

Editorial

Abstracting and Indexing

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary Materials

Topics

Topics

External Links

Bibliographic data