Chemistry Facilities
State-of-the-art labs supporting research in wastewater treatment, nanotechnology, medicinal plants, and more.
About Us
Department of Chemistry
Staff
Meet the talented individuals at VUT who drive our success with their expertise and passion
Facilities
Advanced labs for research in wastewater, nanotech, and medicinal plants.
Research
Explore our innovative research and groundbreaking projects, driving progress and inspiring new ideas
Chemistry Facilities
Please contact the lab managers below for analyses quotations and special research requirements.
Dr Lonwabo Ngondwana
Hi there! If you have any questions or need assistance,just drop me an email or call.
Chemistry has access to the following equipment at VUT
Thermal Gravimetric analyzer (TGA)
Perkin Elmer, STA 6000
Nitrogen gas
Nuclear Magnetic Resonace analyser (NMR) (Dr Mtunzi)
Fourier Transformed Infra Red (FTIR) with an Attanuated Total Reflectance (ATR) detector
Perkin Elmer Spectrum 400 FT-IR/FT-NIR Spectrometer
Universal ATR with diamond detector at wavelength from 650 cm-1to 4000 cm-1
Nanomaterial preparation apparatus
- Electro-spinning apparatus for polymer fibres (Prof Moloto)
- Chemical bath deposition apparatus for producing thin films (Prof Moloto)
- Tubular furnace for carbon nanotube synthesis (Prof Dikio)
- Tubular furnace for nanoparticle synthesis (Dr Xaba)
UV-vis spectrometer
Perkin Elmer Lambda 25 UV-Vis,
Double beam spectrometer – tungsten and deuterium lamps are used for illumination.
Collects spectra from 180-1100 nm UV and visible range using a slit of 1.0 and width of 0.1.
Photochemiluminace spectrometer
Particle size analyzer and point of zero charge (PZC) measurements
HPLC analyser with UV-vis spectrometer as detector
Gas Chromatography with a mass spectrometer deterctor (GC-MS)
Degradation testing reactors
- Fixed bed reactor for adsorption studies from liquids (Prof Ofomaja)
- Photocatalytic reactor for degradation studies (Prof Ofomaja)
Microwave digestion system Sineo MDS 6G (Engineering department)
- It is currently used by Chemistry as a solvothermal high pressure reactor to prepare nanoparticles
- Microwave frequency 2450MHz
- Maximum microwave power 1000W, non-pulse continuous automatic variable frequency control
- Pressure measurement and control system: Piezoelectric crystal pressure sensor, pressure control range :0-10MPa (1500 psi), accuracy ± 0.01MPa
- Temperature measurement and control system: High-precision platinum resistor temperature sensor, temperature range :0-300°C, accuracy ±1℃
- Turntable design Load 8 MP-100 closed digestion vessels at same time
- Inner vessel material: TFM material
Powder X-ray diffraction (Metallurgy department)
- Shimadzu-XRD 700, X-Ray Diffractometer
- Cu Ka radiation (l = 1.154056 Å).
- Current 30 mA and voltage of 40 kV