Main Menu

About the department of chemistry

Assoc. Prof. Motaung Tshwafo

Position: Associate Professor/HOD
Qualification: BSc Hons, MSc, PhD (Polymer Chemistry, UFS)
Department: Chemistry
Phone: (+27) 35 902 6786
Email: motaungt@unizulu.ac.za
Office: 243

Our key missions:

One of our key missions is to generate human resource of unmatchable quality. We provide under graduate and post-graduate programs with the aim of producing chemists with high professional competence, in carrying out research of both basic and applied nature. Currently, there are 8 M.Sc and 4 Ph.D. students.

The department of chemistry since its inception, the department has been engaged in imparting the highest level and quality of academic education.  This department constitutes a 6-member faculty expertise in frontier level of research, the main areas of research being nanotechnology, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, organometallics, polymer chemistry, analytical chemistry and environmental chemistry.

The department is equipped with the latest instrumental facilities that are required to carry out modern day research, such as AFM, UV-Vis spectrophotometers, photoluminescence spectrophotometer, FT-IR, XRD, DSC, TGA, CHNS analyzer, GC-MS. The undergrad and postgrad students are provided with a broad practical exposure to the various instrumental techniques required for their research.

 

The academic atmosphere at department of chemistry is a rare blend of modern day technical skills and the traditional emphasis on imparting knowledge. The students who have qualified from the department has outstanding achievements and leadership qualities.  The department has a wide variety of research interests, and has collaboration with many institutions both locally and internationally.