This strategic cluster deals with the development of new materials and chemicals in the nanometer sized regime, exhibiting pre-designed physical and chemical characteristics. It is divided into three focus areas exploring concepts from molecular level to the tens of nanometer scale in the fields of nano solid state materials, petrochemicals and polymers. Research on these aspects can, and will have different impacts on society, and although the overarching focus is natural scientific, it will continuously address relevant environmental, social, ethical and judicial issues to be influenced by and which can benefit from the activities. It will therefore include contributions from all these disciplines to enable a truly inter-disciplinary cluster.
Research within the first focus area of nano solid state materials include the development of luminescent nano-materials that will improve the quality of life and add to high technology development, such as solid state lighting. This promises to replace conventional light sources with impressive economic and environmental savings. Nano-technology, pervasive in many applications and includes light emitting diodes, EL devices, nano-catalysts, sensor technology and bio medical probes etc. will thus be explored.
The second focus area of petrochemicals includes thrusts in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, which converts basic building blocks of the sub-/ lower-nanoscale size into value added downstream nanochemicals, relevant to the synthetic petrochemical industry. Catalysis is a vast and integrated part in many chemical conversions, dramatically increasing the rate of formation (of new compounds/ solvents/ detergents/ materials) as well as selectivity (specific characteristics) of tailor-made products. It requires clean operating systems from the onset from both economic and environmental considerations since the process is more effective, to yield pure products with higher yields and minimising waste. It thus includes research which ensures minimum environmental impact in the pursuit of ‘green Chemistry’.
The research within the third focus area of polymers will investigate new materials designed and obtained from the blending different polymeric and composite materials and the mixing with a variety of fillers (especially natural fibres) in the absence or presence of modifiers. It will also explore the inclusion of nano-sized particles into different matrices, modifying the morphology and physical properties of the polymers and composite materials.
The following three Focus Areas are included in this Cluster:
5.1: Nano solid state materials
5.2: Petrochemicals
5.3: Polymers
Focus Area 5.1: Nano solid state materials
Research Focus: The research within this Focus Area will include the development of luminescent nano-materials that will improve the quality of life, add to high technology development and the improvement of the lifetime of field emission display (FED) and plasma display (PD) screens.
Research projects within this Focus Area should be connected by sharing experimental and theoretical skills of the persons involved, and should further promote collaboration both nationally and internationally. Both fundamental and industrial research should be addressed through the development of technical knowledge when determining physical and chemical surface properties. One of the objectives of the research in this Focus Area would be to enable the supply of luminescent infrastructure materials to the construction industry. This would allow the construction of luminescent infrastructure such as streets, roads, road signage, buildings and mine tunnels. Hydrogen storage capabilities of some nano-crystalline materials for uses as renewable energy sources should also be investigated in nano-metal projects, with hydrogen acting as an energy storage and transfer material.
The developing Focus Area in nanotechnology may be summarised by the following areas:

Processes will be developed whereby various types of semiconductor and metal nano-particles are synthesized to provide properties regarding their colour, luminescent intensity, life-time, strength and hardness, enhanced diffusivity, and superior soft and hard magnetic properties. These nano-particles may then be combined with other materials and then be used in several applications. The envisaged objectives of the Focus Area will centre on the following specific areas:
- Synthesis of nano-particles and –phosphors to provide required properties.
- Engineering and evaluation of different host materials and doping material.
- CL & PL degradation studies on these particles.
- Growth of thin films from these particles.
- Combination of nano-particles and other materials for industrial uses.
- Evaluation of performance of engineered products.
Solid State lighting promises to replace conventional light sources, with impressive economic and environmental savings. This low energy consumption and high efficiency lighting sources will impact on the quality of life, especially for the poor who still use candles and lanterns. Nano-technology is pervasive in many applications, including light emitting diodes, EL devices, nano-catalysts, sensor technology and bio medical probes etc.
Focus Area 5.2: Petrochemicals
Rationale: Petrochemicals in the Africa/Middle East region forms a large portion of the general economy. Since liquid natural resources are rapidly being depleted, while solid (coal based) and (natural) gas are becoming increasingly important to ensure future supplies, South Africa, in order to remain an international player in the field, must constantly develop and evaluate special technology, also with regard to biofuels. The UFS is already in alliance with SASOL, a petrochemical giant manufacturing petroleum products and fine chemicals in a world competitive market, to enable a significant contribution to all aspects of petrochemical and fine chemical synthesis.
Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic processes in the synthetic petrochemical industry convert basic building blocks, often of the sub-/ lower-nanoscale size, into value added downstream nanochemicals. While multinational petrochemical companies rely on crude oil- or natural gas-based feedstocks, SASOL’s feedstocks are Fischer-Tropsch (FT) derived. South Africa therefore has easy access to these competitive Fischer-Tropsch chemicals as produced by SASOL to develop chemical processes and create a world class multi-billion Rand downstream chemical industry in South Africa.
Much however still remains to be discovered fundamentally, even about more well-known processes of relevance to the petrochemical industry, such as carbonylation, oligomerization and hydroformylation reactions, and processes wherein these technologies are currently applied should be constantly evaluated for possible improvement. For example, many of the impurities present in raw feedstocks or downstream products, even at parts per million level, are often sufficient to act as catalyst inhibitors for more commonly employed catalyst systems.
A dedicated and holistic approach to constantly evaluate all aspects associated with different petro- and closely related organometallic and other chemical materials, including the design and evaluation of catalysts to optimise synthetic protocols, determination mechanistic pathways to products and the characterisation of new products in value addition synthetic sequences, clearly warrants national investment.
This focus therefore represents a fundamental research approach which aims at applied answers for processes associated directly, and where relevant, indirectly, with petrochemical products and -conversions. It covers basic aspects for metal catalyst development to broader applied concepts. For example, much current ‘mechanistic’ research, in particular in Organometallic Chemistry, is simply based on thermodynamic product analysis, whereas the time-dependence of the processes, which requires special equipment and methodology, is much less studied. This thrust will thus not only deal with the thermodynamic aspects and product analysis of the chemical reactions (although important as such) for basic understanding of reactants and product development, but will also concern the time-dependence (i.e. dynamics) of the processes and the molecular mechanisms by which they proceed. Thus the kinetics, equilibria, intimate mechanism, intermediates, etc., are also included.
Research Focus: The focus area will consider the following aspects:
- Homogeneous catalysis in synthetic reactions.
- Heterogeneous catalysis in synthetic reactions.
- Ligand design to direct the use of new catalysts towards specific reactions and reaction products.
- Determination of detailed reaction mechanisms towards new products.
- The characterisation and in situ evaluation of new and known products.
- Development of oxidation technology.
- Modelling of systems by computational methodologies.
Techniques to be used include crystallography, spectroscopy (NMR, IR U/vis and illuminesence – all under normal and elevated pressures and temperatures), thermal analyses, electrochemistry, reaction kinetics and other analytical techniques to characterize and evaluate reactant and product performance.
Synthetic protocols will include the use of batch autoclaves under high pressure and temperature conditions and with the capacity to control various other synthetic parameters such as pH, catalyst concentration and other variables.
Focus Area 5.3: Polymers
Research Focus: Research within this focus area will investigate the influence of the blending of different polymers, the mixing of different polymers with a variety of fillers (especially natural fibres) in the absence or presence of modifiers, and the inclusion of nano-sized particles into different polymer matrices, on the morphology and physical properties of the polymers.
The proposed research is a combination of fundamental and applied research. The initial approach is fundamental, but the results should be used to develop materials with specific or improved properties that can be used in different economic sectors.
The final aim is to prepare polymers with improved or tailor-made properties. Specific objectives and envisaged impact include the following:
- Preparing different polymer blends, composites, nanocomposites, blend composites, and phase change materials.
- Using FTIR, XRD, TEM, SEM and polarized optical microscopy to determine the structure and morphology of the new materials.
- Determining the thermal (crystallinity, melting and crystallization temperatures, thermal stability, flammability), mechanical (strength and ultimate properties, stress relaxation, dynamic mechanical properties), surface (surface free energy, gas permeability, water absorption), and flow properties of the new materials.
- Explaining the properties of the modified materials in terms of their structure and morphology.
Rationale: It has been generally accepted that it is not always necessary to synthesize new polymers in order to satisfy the need for new materials. Modification of existing commodity or engineering polymers is often a more rapid and less expensive alternative than the synthesis of new polymers. Over the years, numerous systems have been developed and commercialized. A big part of the family of new materials is based on polyolefins which are the widest used polymers in industry. Very little research has been done on the modification of paraffin waxes and the use of (modified) waxes in blends. Recently phase-change materials, which are used in energy-storage systems, received a fair amount of attention. Waxes, especially those that are immiscible with the polymer matrix, are excellent substances to use as phase-change materials.
Natural fibres, being a cheap and renewable source of polymers with exceptional properties, can also be used in fibre-reinforced composites. Owing to the increasing use of thermoplastics, research into fibre-reinforced thermoplastics has become increasingly important. It is important to consider fibre surface treatment and the resultant effects on the physical and mechanical properties of different fibre-matrix composite systems. There is still a large scope for studies involving sisal and wood powder composites with polyethylene and EVA, for example, polymer composites containing both natural fibre and nanosized particles have not yet received much attention. Similarly polymer blends and composites, where natural fibre is mixed with a blend of two miscible or immiscible polymers, is a promising field.
Nanomaterial additives can also provide specific property advantages in comparison to both their filler counterparts and base polymer, all of which have an impact on a variety of existing commercial applications.
Proposed research projects within the Focus Area:
- Phase change materials. Investigate the use of waxes in polymer matrices as phase change materials in energy storage systems
- Mixed polymer composites. A revolutionary approach is on the cards, where single polymers and polymer blends will be mixed with both natural fibres and nanosized particles. The physical properties will be related to composite morphologies
- Polymer nanocomposites. A variety of investigations will be undertaken in this field. Nanosized copper will be included in different polymer matrices and the mechanical, thermal and conductive properties will be determined and explained in terms of the nanocomposite morphology. Nanocomposites will also be prepared through sol-gel techniques.