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Starting off as an assistant labourer in his father’s bricklaying business did not deter Dr Donald Mkhonto from attaining success in a highly scientific research career.
Now a senior researcher at the CSIR Modelling and Digital Science unit, the 36-year-old, born in Majembeni Village in Bushbuck Ridge, Mpumalanga, operates in a highly scientific field where he can apply the knowledge attained during his master’s and doctoral studies.
Dr Mkhonto is living proof of how hard work and perseverance, against all odds, does pay off. However, he admits it was not necessarily easy getting to where he is now. “I was a nobody from a family that was trying to make ends meet,” he says. “My parents were uneducated but intelligent and understood the value of education and what it was all about.”
He attended a rural school where he says resources were not only scarce, but also nonexistent. “But, hard as it was, I made sure that I passed my maths and science,” he says.
Being raised in a Christian home also kept him on the straight and narrow path. “There was a time when I was playing soccer and I remember that very few of us did not indulge in some kind of substance abuse,” he says.
After Standard 10, his woes continued. Because his parents could not afford to send him to university to further, his studies, he had to help his bricklayer father raise more walls in the area. However, that was not for long. He received a bursary from the former Gazankulu Department of Education in 1994 and enrolled for a BSc (Physics) at the then University of the North (now University of Limpopo, also known as Turfloop), the following year.
“All I knew about engineering at the time was that mechanical engineers design cars and machines and civil engineers design roads and bridges and that was it,” he says. “And of course I had this passion for design and wanted to become an engineer, though I am now a physicist.”
At Turfloop, Mkhonto had to adjust very quickly. His understanding of English was limited. “I had to learn English fast so that I could understand the lecturers. And learn I did,” he says. Mkhonto studied at the same university until he obtained his PhD on Solid State Physics, which was funded by the CSIR and the NRF.
“My PhD research at the university was on biological materials or the modelling of bone material. The focus of the research was the use of computational techniques to study calcium phosphate mineral surfaces – a mineral in bone, which can be used to repair damaged bones,” he explains. The same method can be used to contribute to the fast healing of diseased bones and improve the acceptance of synthetic implants in the body.
At the CSIR, he is applying the knowledge obtained during his master’s and doctoral studies, as well as two post doctoral positions at the University of London in the UK and the University of Wisconsin in the US, to focus on the modelling of battery materials while retaining his interest in biomaterials. His field of science, the study of battery materials, involves investigating the properties of materials to improve performance of Lithium Ion batteries.
“We focus more on the minerals that are available in South Africa and are environmental friendly,” he says “We use computational techniques to study different material compositions to design better electrodes and also study the interface between battery electrode surfaces and the electrolyte. The research is aimed at eventually finding alternative, cost-effective and self-sufficient energy sources in the country.”
He envisages that his research – in collaboration with other CSIR units - will lead to improved performance of batteries for portable devices (such as cell phones and medical devices) and even electric-powered vehicles and utility storage.
“My work contributes to the fight against global warming because it will eventually limit the use of fossil fuels. In addition, in the field of biomaterials; my present interest is investigating, at the molecular level, key aspects of the interface between the collagen protein and two important biomaterials: bio-glass and hydroxyapatite (HA). This is being done in view of the importance of the collagen-ceramic composite in both natural bone tissue and synthetic biomaterials. The information obtained can then be used in the design and development of new and improved biocompatible implant materials to improve life. Modelling provides techniques that allow better understanding of materials and explains phenomenon beyond experimental capabilities,” says Dr Mkhonto.
Dr Mkhonto is a senior researcher in molecular modelling at the CSIR Modelling and Digital Science’s Advanced Mathematical Modelling (AMM) competency area. He specialises in using advanced mathematical methods at electronic and atomic level to simulate properties of different materials. The idea is to better design materials on a molecular level.
CSIR Communication:
Mzimasi Gcukumana, email: MGcukumana@csir.co.za
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