Neil Coville

Biography

Niel Coville is currently working as Emeritus professor of Chemistry at University of the witswatersrand. Research interests includes materials chemistry with emphasis on shaped structures, made in particular from carbon, heterogeneous catalysis with emphasis on the Fischer-Tropsch reaction and the use of carbons in solar cells as sensors and as catalyst supports. Many of the projects fall within the DST/NRF Centres of Excellence in Strong Materials or Catalysis. Projects are also supported by HYSA and Johnson-Matthey. A major focus in the work is on the synthesis and characterization of inorganic materials for use as catalyst supports, in solar cells and in various devices. A wide range of techniques, available either in-house or in neighbouring departments/Universities/CSIR, are used for characterization purposes and include TGA, BET, DSC, DRIFTS, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, TEM, SEM, XRD etc.

Research Interest

He is expert in research areas such as synthesis and characterization of inorganic materials, Catalysis.