According to a statement supplied by UFS, the R65 million project will not only promote research in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Microbiology, Geology, Plant Sciences, Zoology, and Cardiothoracic Surgery, but it will also increase the number of research articles published. 

In an interview with OFM News, Prof Koos Terblans, Head of the Department of Physics and Director of the Centre for Microscopy at the UFS, says this equipment will allow the faculty to compete with the rest of the world.

Terblans indicates that the university recently purchased a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a focused ion beam secondary electron microscope.

“The installation of the equipment that was delivered on 1 March 2021 will take approximately three to six months,” he says. The biggest instrument, the HRTEM, allows for direct imaging of the atomic structure of samples, says Terblans.

“This powerful tool will allow researchers to study the properties of materials on an atomic scale. It will, for instance, be used to study nano-particles, semiconductors, metals, and biological material. The instrument will also be used to optimise heat treatment of materials, as it can heat the sample up to 1000 °C while recording live images of the sample.

“With this apparatus, the UFS is the only institution in South Africa that can perform this function,” says Terblans.

OFM News/Blaine Jones