Research visit to the University of Pretoria

I am writing to provide a progress report following the research visit to the University of Pretoria (UP), made possible by your support through the FAR-Leaf fund. I would like to begin by expressing my profound gratitude for the approval and funding that enabled this essential phase of my research project, “Solar-Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants: Utilising Monolithic MOFs for Sustainable Water Remediation.”

As scheduled, the visit took place from November 3rd to 8th, 2025. The initial two days were dedicated to a comprehensive induction and training session conducted by my mentor, Professor Diale, and her team. This training was invaluable, covering the operational protocols, data acquisition, and subsequent interpretation for the sophisticated characterisation equipment.

From November 5th to 8th, I commenced the analysis of my synthesised samples. During this period, I successfully conducted and completed the following characterisations:

• UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS) for detailed optical property analysis.

• Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) for functional group identification.

  
  

A fee of ZAR 3,250 (approximately USD 175) was charged for using these instruments, as they fall outside my mentor's department. Professor Diale has advanced this cost using her cost centre and indicated that she will liaise with Dr Leti for recovery. I wish to highlight that this expense is correctly allocated against the USD 1 200 budget line in the approved budget, which was specifically designated for "sourcing external facilities outside Zimbabwe, preferably UP.”

The data obtained from these techniques, combined with the preliminary data from our in-house facilities at MSU (Powder Xray Diffraction (PXRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)), has given us sufficient confidence in our material's properties to proceed to the application stage of the research, where we are now testing the photocatalytic degradation performance of the materials.

However, as anticipated in the original proposal, the high-demand, university-wide instruments at the University of Pretoria, Scanning Electro Microscopy (SEM), Tansmission Electro Microscopy (EM), and Energy Dispersive Xray Spectroscopy (EDX) were not available within the one-week timeframe. These analyses are crucial for the morphological and compositional validation of our monolithic MOFs.

I have presented this development to my University Research Board, who then funded a second visit, undertaken from December 1st to 4th, 2025, funded by my institution, Midlands State University. Prof Diale successfully secured instrument time and rebooked these analyses for this period. During the second visit, further analysis was conducted; however, we could not complete all the planned analysis, and some samples were therefore left at the University of Pretoria. Prof Diale's department of Physics will conduct the remaining analysis on my behalf.

I am pleased to inform you that the Board has reviewed the situation and has committed to covering all associated expenses for this second trip.

Once again, thank you for your pivotal support. The funding you provided was instrumental in achieving this significant milestone, and I look forward to sharing the final characterisation results and the progress of the application tests with you soon.

Sincerely,

Piwai Tshuma