Staff Members
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HOD: Physics Department
Name: Buyi Sondezi
Location: C1 Lab 126 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
About UJ, Physics Academic Staff, Physics Head of Department听 Staff Members
Contact Details:
Tel: 011 559 2813
Email:听bmsondezi@uj.ac.za
About Prof. Buyi Sondezi
Field of Specialisation: Material Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Solid State Physics
Rare-Earth-Based Oxides and Nanomaterials Group (REBO-NANO Group)
Research Interests:
From a background of extensive study in the field of highly correlated materials investigated from bulk compounds and alloys, a new frontier into rare-earth-based oxides and nanomaterials is explored. In the studies of the highly correlated matter, great emphasis was put on the behaviour of the rare earth element which is mostly derived from the local moment of the f-electrons, which were observed to be species that were mostly responsible for the behaviour of the whole compound. Materials were studied under extreme conditions; high applied magnetic fields, extremely low temperatures (as low as 50 mK) as well as chemical pressures. All these were done to investigate the stability of the ordering temperature which indicated if the systems could be driven to quantum criticality. Success was achieved from ferromagnetically ordered materials using chemical pressure, where a non-magnetic element was systematically substituted into the well-ordered polycrystalline material.
Extending from this knowledge, the behaviour of the rare earth element is further investigated in oxide materials, which form pyrochlores, perovskites and double perovskite materials. These are dependent on the stoichiometry and the synthesis profile employed to get to the desired material. These classes of materials (thin films and nanomaterials) have various possible applications, ranging from energy storage devices, data storage devices, and radiation shielding as well as applications in the medical field.
Research projects in this group leverage the strengths and the advantages of the rare-earth element to achieve most of the desired results and subsequent applications.
For more information about her supervision work, please click here.
Research Publications
听2026 Publications:
Khethiwe Cele, Sibusiso Nqayi, Reddy Leelakrishna, Buyisiwe Sondezi, Structural, morphological, thermodynamic, and magnetic properties of Sm2Ni2O5: influence of co-precipitation vs sol-gel synthesis, Physics Open, 2026, 26, 100358.
Sibusiso Nqayi, Buyisiwe Sondezi, B鈥慡ite Cu2+ Substitution and Strain-Mediated Magnetic Evolution in La2CoRuO6 Double Perovskite: Insights from Experiment and DFT+ U鈥慍orrected Calculations, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2026, 17(51), 69610-69620.
Edwin Tumelo Maleho, Machaba Leanyatsa Abraham Letswalo, and Buyisiwe M. Sondezi, Effects of Anionic Groups on Structural and Luminescent Properties of ZnO:Sm3+ Phosphors Synthesized via Combustion Method, Molecules, 2026, 31(2), 206.
2025 Publications:
, , Super-exchange coupling in oxygen rich rare-earth based Sm2MnRuO6+未 double perovskite, Material Chemistry and Physics, 2025, 332,
J. Mboukam, M.B. Tchoula Tchokont茅, Z.Z. Mpupa, R.D. Fobasso, B.M. Sondezi, D. Kaczorowski, A.M. Strydom, Physical properties and the magnetocaloric effect in Ho2Pt2In, Physica B: Condensed Matter, 2025, 718, 417897.
, , Quantum size effects on magnetism in Eu2MnHfO6 nanoparticles: Role of surface-to-volume ratio, magnetic blocking, and magnetic phase transitions, Results in Physics, 2025, 75,
M. Sondezi, B.P. Mabuea, B. Sahu, A.M. Strydom, O.M. Ntwaeaborwa, S. Nqayi, Chemical inhomogeneity induced by coexistence of Mn polyhedra in Sm2Mn2O5: Steady change and reversible magnetocaloric effect, Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2025, 345, 131246.
Purusottam Reddy, Durga Prasad Pabba, Fatimah Mohammed A. Alzahrani, M.S. Al-Buriahi, Norah Salem Alsaiari, K. Sunil Kumar, B. Sondezi, Si-Hyun Park, In-situ synthesis of binder-free hexagonal plate-like micro-structured Co3O4 vertically grown on Ni foam with superior intercalation pseudocapacitance for high-performance supercapacitors, Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2025, 199, 109884.
Edwin Maleho, Machaba Letswalo and Buyisiwe Sondezi, Investigation of the photoluminescence studies of ZnO: Dy3+nanophosphors via different anionic group (BO33鈭�, PO42鈭�, and SO42鈭�) substitutions, Res. Express 12 (2025) 105006.
2024 Publications:
Weak ferromagnetic interactions of Sm2Fe2O5+未听induced by coupling of the crystal and related lattice vibrations , Physica B: Condensed Matter,听2024, 695, 416501.
Crystal and thermodynamic properties of Tb2Ni2X, (X = Al, Ga) , , , , Physica B: Condensed Matter,听2024, 695, 416525.
Complex magnetic ordering in the noncentrosymmetric metal PrCuGe3 , , Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid-State Physics,听2024, 521, 129743.
Sol-gel synthesis and photoluminescent properties of metal oxide-metal oxide coupled nanocomposites , , , Physica B: Condensed Matter,听2024, 675, 415600.
Critical behavior approaches to 3D-Mean field model of GdPdIn , , , , Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials,听2024, 589, 171302.
Large magnetocaloric effect in a ternary Laves phase compound Ho2Rh3Ge , , , Intermetallics,听2024, 164, 108058.
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