Professor of Polymer Chemistry / Polymer Synthesis
Department of Chemical Sciences

Faculty of Science and Technology

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 UKM Bangi

Selangor, Malaysia

rusli.daik@ukm.edu.my
rusli.daik@gmail.com

Editor-in-Chief
Sains Malaysiana (WoS, SCOPUS)

He graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Chemistry. He later earned his PhD in Polymer Chemistry from University of Durham, UK in 1997.

Professor Rusli is an expert in the area of polymer chemistry with his contribution being mainly in the area of polymer synthesis, nano-structured polymers and bio-synthetic polymers. Apart from synthesis, his research work also focuses on application of polymers in opto-electronics, sensors, energy and health sciences. As an expert, his has delivered more than 30 invited talks in Malaysia, Asian Countries, Middle East and USA, received more than 25 awards from national and international organizations.

Throughout his career he has written more than 120 research manuscripts published in refereed journals and produced six Intellectual Properties. He has also edited 6 books and written 18 book chapters.  He is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Polymer Science and Technology (published by the Polymer Research Center, UKM), an Associate Editor of the Malaysian Polymer Journal (published by the Plastics and Rubber Institute of Malaysia), a Guest Editor of the Macromolecular Symposia (2017) and a Section Editor (Chemistry) of the Sains Malaysiana Journal, published by UKM Press.

He was the Chairman of the School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology UKM for 2010 – 2012, the Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation), Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM for 2012 – 2017, and the Chairman of the Center for Advanced Materials and Renewable Resources, Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM for 2018 - 2019.  Now he is the Chairman of the Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM.

Professor Rusli contributed not only to academia community, but also to public at large. He has been appointed as a member of the SIRIM Technical Committee and the Committee Chairman on General Purpose Chemicals, and Paints and Coatings, respectively for preparing Malaysian Standard. He actively involved with activities by the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM). He also contributes as a member of IKM Section Committee on Polymers and Materials Chemistry since 2017. Professor Rusli is the Chairman of Pro-Tem Committee for the Persatuan Polimer Malaysia and Persatuan Alumni Sains Kimia Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, he is now the Vice Chairman of the Persatuan Alumni Sains Kimia Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Since 2019 he is also a Fellow of Malaysian Academy of Sciences (FASc).

At international level, he has been selected as Malaysian Representative to the Council of Federation of Asian Polymer Societies since 2012, of which he became the General Secretary of the council for the period of 2016 – 2017. He also a member of the Council of Asian Science Editors (CASE) since 2017, for which he contributes as a member of the Education and Training Committee for the period of 2018 – 2020. He is also an Associate Member of the IUPAC Cheminformatics Data Standards (CPCDS) Standing Committee for the term 2020-2021.

Mohamad Deraman, Najah Syahirah Mohd Nor, Erman Taer, Baharuddin Yatim, Awitdrus, Rakhmawati Farma, Nur Hamizah Basri, Mohd Amir Radhi Othman, Ramli Omar, Mohamad Redwani Mohd Jasni1, Rusli Daik, Sepideh Soltaninejad, Mohd Suleman, Gurumurthy Hegde, and Abdul Aziz Astimar. Review of Energy and Power of Supercapacitor Using Carbon Electrodes from Fibers of Oil Palm Fruit Bunches. Materials Science Forum Submitted, (2015)846: 497-504

Abstract. Energy and power capability of supercapacitors are important because of their use in providing backup power or pulse current to electronic/electric products or systems. The choice of the electrode materials, such as carbons, metal oxides or conducting polymers determines their mechanism of energy storage process. This short review focuses on the supercapacitors using porous carbon electrodes prepared from fibers of oil palm empty fruit bunches. The specific energy and specific power of these supercapacitors were analyzed to observe the change in their trend with respect to the electrode preparation parameters affecting the porosity, structure, surface chemistry and electrical conductivity of electrodes, and hence influence the energy and power capability of supercapacitors. This review finds that the trend of change in specific energy and specific power is not in favor of the expectation that both the specific energy and specific power should be in increasing trend with a significant progress.

Keywords: Supercapacitor, Carbon electrode, Specific energy, Specific power, Oil palm empty fruit bunches.  

M.R.M. Jasni, M. Deraman, E. Hamdan, N.E.S. Sazali, N.S.M. Nor, M.M. Ishak, N.H. Basri, R. Omar, M.A.R. Othman, R. Zulkifli, R. Daik, and M. Suleman. Effect of KOH Treated Graphene in Green Monoliths of Pre-carbonized Biomass Fibers on the Structure, Porosity and Capacitance of Supercapacitors Carbon Electrodes. Materials Science Forum, (2015) 846: 551-558

Abstract. Activated carbon monoliths (ACMs) electrodes for supercapacitor application were prepared from the green monoliths (GMs) containing KOH treated self-adhesive carbon grains (SACGs) added with KOH treated graphene at its weight percentages of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 %, respectively. The SACGs were prepared from fibres of oil palm empty fruit bunches by a low carbonization temperature method. The ACMs were produced by the carbonization and activation of the GMs. The surface area, structure and specific capacitance of the ACMs electrodes were found affected by the graphene addition. The highest surface area of the ACMs electrode was observed for the addition of 6 wt.% graphene, which corresponds to the carbon turbostratic structure of the ACMs electrodes with the values of its crystallite interlayer spacings (d002 and d100) at 0.352 nm and 0.205 nm, and its crystallites stack-width (La) and stack-height (Lc) at 43.21 nm and 10.06 nm, respectively. The specific capacitance of the cell using this electrode was 113 Fg-1 .

Keyword: Biomass fibers, Graphene, Activated carbon electrodes, Porosity, Structure, Supercapacitor, Energy storage.

Roslinda Zulkifli, Mohamad Deraman, Rusli Daik, Maria Muhammad Ishak, Najah Syahirah Mohd Nor, Mohamad Redwani Mohd Jasni, Sepideh Soltaninejad, and Mohd Suleman . Electrochemical Characterization of Supercapacitor Electrodes Prepared by Activation of Green Monoliths Consist of Self-Adhesive Carbon Grains and Lignin. Materials Science Forum, 846, 545-550

Abstract: Self-adhesive carbon grains (SACGs) and lignin were produced from fibres of oil palm empty fruit bunches by a low carbonization temperature and chemical treatment methods, respectively. Green monoliths (GMs) were prepared from the KOH-treated SACGs mixed with the organosolv-treated lignin with their weight percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. The GMs were carbonized and activated into highly porous activated carbon monoliths (ACMs) electrodes to fabricate supercapacitor cells. The cell performance was investigated using galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) technique. The results demonstrate that 5 wt.% of lignin is the optimum quantity that should be added to SACGs and this corresponds to the higher values of the specific capacitance (137 Fg-1), specific energy (4.13 Whkg-1), specific power (192 Wkg-1), and a satisfactory value of equivalent series resistance (0.467 Ω) of the supercapacitor.

Keywords: Self-adhesive carbon grains, Activated carbon monoliths, Lignin, Supercapacitor electrode.

NUR FATIN NABILA Saari, DALINA Samsudin, NOR MAZLINA Abdul Wahab, NOOR AISHATUN Majid, RUSLI Daik and MOHD AZLAN Mohd Ishak. Preparation and Characterization of Lignin from Malaysian Coconut Coir Husk (CCH) as a Potential Precursor in Phenol-Formaldehyde (Phenolic) Resins for the Plastics Industry. Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1133 (2016) pp 583-587

Abstract. Coconut coir husk (CCH) was chosen to extract its lignin due to high lignin content comparable with other natural fibre. The lignin was extracted and its utilization in production of phenolic resin was investigated. The percentage extracted lignin obtained in this studies was 38.1 % which indicated the high yield of lignin. Two phenolic resins were prepared, which are phenolformaldehyde resin and lignin-formaldehyde resin. The functional group present in the lignin and both phenolic resins were further analyzed using the Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy (FTIR). The findings from the infrared spectra of the lignin-formaldehyde resin were similar to the phenol-formaldehyde resin. These indicate that lignin can be partially used as phenol in phenolic resin synthesis.

Keywords: Lignin, Coconut Coir Husk, Phenolic resin, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR)

Ehsan Raza, Muhammad Asif, Fakhra Aziz, Mohamad Izzat Azmer, Haseeb Ashraf Malik, Chin-Hoong Teh, Mansoor Ani Najeeb, Qayyum Zafar, Zubair Ahmad, Fazal Wahab, Rusli Daik, Norazilawati Muhamad Sarih, Azzuliani Supangat, Khaulah Sulaiman. Influence of thermal annealing on a capacitive humidity sensor based on newly synthesized macroporous PBObzT2. Sensors and Actuators B 235 (2016) 146–153

In this work, we report on the application of a newly synthesized macroporous polythiophene derivative, benzo[b]thiophene end-capped dioctyloxy-benzene(PBObzT2), in the fabrication of a capacitive humidity sensor. The sensorhas beenfabricated by spin-coatingpolymer solutioninthe gapbetweenpre-deposited aluminum electrodes to form a coplanar Al/PBObzT2/Al capacitive humidity sensor. We have also demonstrated how effectively thermal annealing has improved the physical aspects of the active layer and sensing properties of the sensor. The sensor’s capacitance is measured against RH variations at different frequencies. Particularly, at an optimum annealing temperature of 75 ◦C, the sensor exhibits high sensitivity, fast response and low hysteresis. The hydrophobic nature of the polymer makes it highly appropriate to be used in the humidity sensors.

Lih Wei Lim, Chin Hoong Teh, Rusli Daik, Norazilawati Muhamad Sarih, Mohd Asri Mat Teridi, Fahmi Fariq Muhammad and Khaulah Sulaiman. Synthesis and characterization of 2,20 -bithiophene end-capped dihexyloxy phenylene pentamer and its application in a solution-processed organic ultraviolet photodetector. RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 61848

In this work a new solution processable small organic material, namely 2,20 -bithiophene end-capped dihexyloxy phenylene pentamer (BHBT2) was synthesized, characterized and applied in the fabrication of an organic ultraviolet photodetector. The material was synthesized via Williamson etherification, bromination and Suzuki coupling. FTIR and NMR spectroscopies were recorded for BHBT2 along with its optical, thermal and electrochemical properties. Finally, BHBT2 was used as donor material to produce a solution-processed UV photodetector based on a BHBT2 : PC61BM organic active layer. Results showed that in forward biasing, the photodetector exhibited a photovoltaic effect with Jsc ¼ 1.80 mA, Voc ¼ 0.66 V, FF ¼ 0.30 and PCE ¼ 0.98%, while in reverse biasing, the photodetector exhibited a fast, reversible and stable response with the highest detectivity of 1.47 109 jones. The realization of efficient UV detection was attributed to the strong absorption of BHBT2 and PC61BM in the UV region. Hence, the BHBT2 pentamer coupled with PC61BM can be considered as a potential material to be applied in a solution-processed organic UV photodetector.

Chin Hoong Teh, Rusli Daik, Eng Liang Lim, Chi Chin Yap, Mohd Adib Ibrahim, Norasikin Ahmad Ludin, Kamaruzzaman Sopian and Mohd Asri Mat Teridi. A review of organic small molecule-based holetransporting materials for meso-structured organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 15788

This review summarizes the current designs and development of new types of organic small molecules as a hole-transporting material (HTM) in a meso-structured perovskite solar cell (PSC). The roles of each layer in the meso-structured perovskite device architecture are elaborated and the employment of new types of organic HTMs in the device is compared with the commercially available HTM spiro-OMeTAD in terms of the properties, device performance and stability. The studies found that nearly half of the new synthesized and pristine HTMs have comparable or better photovoltaic properties than those of doped spiro-OMeTAD. These HTMs have the characteristics of a fused planar core structure with extended p-conjugated lengths and electron-donating functional groups, which are believed to contribute to their high intrinsic conductivity and help make them an alternative to spiro-OMeTAD as a better HTM in meso-structured PSCs. Some of the devices based on the new synthesized HTMs even have longer device lifetimes than their spiro-OMeTAD-based PSC counterparts. Moreover, studies found that the cost per gram (Cg) and cost-per-peak Watt (Cw) of synthesized HTMs can be reduced via minimizing the number of synthesis steps and by optimization of the starting materials in order to yield low-cost HTMs for meso-structured PSC applications.

Sarifah Fauziah Syed Draman , Rusli Daik and Norzila Mohd. ECO-FRIENDLY EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CELLULOSE FROM LIGNOCELLULOSOIC FIBER. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, VOL. 11, NO. 16

ABSTRACT Cellulose has many advantages such as abundant in nature, inexhaustible, low cost, easy processing, renewable, biodegradable and biocompatible. The most interesting effect is its positive environmental impact. It is also a renewable resource whose further production requires little energy. Thus, more eco-friendly method needs to be used to extract the cellulose. Pineapple leaf and kapok fiber are chosen in this study, since both reported to have a high composition of cellulose. In this study, extraction and characterization were carried out to obtain pure cellulose fiber from pineapple leaf (Annanus cosomus) and kapok (Ceiba Pentandra (L.)) using eco-friendly method namely as dissolution in deep eutectic solvent (DES), which compose from choline chloride and urea. Chemical analysis and physico-chemical characteristics of raw and produced materials were investigated with the help of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The FTIR results show that the treatment by dissolution in DES method removed most of the hemicellulose and lignin from the raw pineapple leaf and kapok fiber. Chemical analysis also showed that 83.5% and 53.4% of cellulose contains in raw fiber of pineapple and kapok respectively. Meanwhile, the extracted fiber of pineapple and kapok containing 97.7% and 92.1% of cellulose respectively. TGA demonstrated that cellulose extracted from dissolution in DES method has higher thermal stability compared to raw fiber. Obtaining pure cellulose from natural fiber, including pineapple and kapok fiber is essential due to its potential in various applications.

Keywords: crystallinity index, deep eutectic solvent, kapok, pineapple leaf, thermogravimetric analysis.

Nor Amira Othman, Rusli Daik, Faiz Bukhari Mohd Suah, Faizatul Shimal Mehamod. Synthesis and Characterization of PyrogallolImprinted Poly(methacrylic acid) via Precipitation Polymerization. International Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2016, 12(4):661-674

Abstract An innovative approach for the selective recovery of pyrogallol by means of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was developed. Pyrogallol has been reported to be found in natural herb plants such as Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila) and harmful to human when it is consumed beyond the permissible amount. In this study, pyrogallol-imprinted polymer (PIP) and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) were synthesized via precipitation polymerization on methacrylic acid (MAA) with divinylbenzene (DVB) and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) cross-linker and initiator, respectively. The synthesized polymers were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis). Studies on adsorption isotherm were carried out by using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Results showed that NIP and PIP follows Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models, respectively. In order to analyze the sorption kinetics of NIP and PIP, two kinetic models were applied; pseudo-first and pseudo-second order. Samples of NIP and PIP were found to follow pseudo-second order, indicating the rate-limiting step is the surface adsorption.

Keywords: adsorption isotherms; adsorption kinetic; precipitation polymerization; molecularly imprinted polymer

Pairu Ibrahim, Rusli Daik and Wan Manshol Wan Zin. Thermal and mechanical properties of gamma-irradiated prevulcanized natural rubber latex/low nitrosamines latex blends. RADIATION EFFECTS & DEFECTS IN SOLIDS, 2016 VOL. 171, NOS. 11–12, 1006–1015

ABSTRACT Thermal and mechanical properties of blended radiation prevulcanized natural rubber latex (RVNRL) and low nitrosamines latex (LNL) were studied. RVNRL was blended with LNL at various composition ratios. From the tensile test, it was found that the optimum tensile value was attained at a total blending ratio of 70% RVNRL and 30% LNL. Latex blending with optimum tensile strength was then subjected to gamma irradiation at various doses with the presence and absence of methyl methacrylate (MMA) at 10 pphr. It was found that the gamma irradiation of latex blend with the presence of MMA could help increase further the tensile value. Composition of blending at a specific ratio and gamma irradiation at a specific dose has led to a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of the latex blend. The formation of grafting in the latex blend was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). FTIR spectroscopy confirmed that MMA could be grafted onto blended latex effectively under appropriate irradiation conditions. Two new peaks at 1731 and 1149 cm−1 were observed after irradiation, indicating the presence of an ester group from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which was grafted onto rubber chains. This finding was proved by the presence of new Tg in DSC analysis. The increase in new Tg indicates the movement of grafting chains, which are tightly bound onto rubber chains