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On Wednesday, 8 October 2025, we were given a briefing about the subject CHE 365 by Sir Shahrizi. He also provided a list of supervisors for each student, and my supervisor for the final year project is Dr zakiuddin. During the briefing, Sir Shahrizi explained that we need to complete the project by Week 14. After that the presentation will be held in Week 15. At the same time, he also reminded us to create an e-portfolio and update it once a week.

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On Friday, 10 October 2025, I met with my supervisor, Dr. Zaki. During the meeting, we discussed possible topics for my Final Year Project (FYP), but the title has not been finalized yet and will be confirmed next week. The purpose of choosing a suitable topic is to ensure that the project can be completed efficiently without taking too much time. Dr. Zaki also explained how to write a good FYP report. He said the report should include important parts like the introduction, method, results, discussion, and conclusion. By following these steps, my report will be more organized and easier to complete. He also advised me to meet with him at least once a week to monitor my progress.

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This was the first meeting with Dr. Zaki. Cordelia attended as well, since we’re both under the same supervisor assigned from the list.

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These are NOG for the Final Year Project e-portfolio that Sir Shahrizi explained.

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These are a NOG for the Final Year Project written report.

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14 October 2025, Tuesday.

This was our second meeting with Dr. Zaki to discuss FYP topics. My given FYP topic is “Effect of NaOH concentration during pretreatment on thermal processing for the production of CNT from charcoal.” He explained the experimental procedures step by step to us, so we now have an idea of how to carry out the experiment.

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After the meeting, we went to check the materials and equipment needed for our experiment. We prepared all the necessary materials and equipment in advance so that we are fully prepared to do this experiment as soon as possible.

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On Thursday, 16 October 2025, Cordelia and I went to the supermarket to buy the coal required for our experiment. The coal needed to be in fine form; therefore, it was necessary to grind it before use. On the following day, Friday, the coal was ground using a grinder, sieved through a filter to obtain fine particles, and then we stored it in a zip-lock bag.

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On Tuesday, 21 October 2025, Cordelia and I met with Dr. Zaki again to continue our discussion about the experiment before conducting it. We also discussed the calculations required for the experiment. This was because we needed to ensure that our experimental procedures were correct so we can avoid any mistakes that might occur during the experiment. Dr. Zaki also instructed us to continue conducting research related to our experiment.

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From 29 to 31 October 2025, I conducted a trial experiment before starting the actual experiment. This was done to see whether the experiment I planned to carry out would work successfully.

On 29 October:

I soaked the charcoal in 1L of HCl for 16 hours on Wednesday at 4 pm. On the same day, Madam Julia taught us how to prepare a 1L HCl solution.

On 30 October:

After soaking the charcoal in the HCl solution for 16 hours, I filtered it around 8 am using the filter pump. Then, I washed the charcoal with distilled and filtered until the pH reached around 5-6. At 4 pm, I soaked the charcoal again in NaOH solution for 16 hours.

On 31 Oct,

I filtered the charcoal again after 16hours. It longer time to filter the charcoal that soaked in the NaOH solution compared to the HCl solution. After that, I used distilled water to wash the charcoal and filtered it again. Then, I sealed the charcoal in zip lock bag.

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This is my FYP executive summary. Based on this summary, I need to finish my final year project on week 14.

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I used a filter pump to filter the charcoal so that I can save more time to filter it compared to use a regular filter.

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On Monday, 3 November 2025, after soaking and filtering the sample with HCl and NaOH solutions, I weighed it first before placing it in the oven at 105°C overnight to dry it before putting it in the furnace.

On the same day, I proceeded to make another sample. I soaked the charcoal in HCl solution for 16 hours. I repeated the same processes from previous week.

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On Tuesday, 4 November 2025, after leaving the sample in the oven overnight, I proceeded to final step, which was placing the sample in the furnace for 2 hours at 350°C. Before that, as usual, I need to weigh the sample first before placed it in the furnace.

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After 2 hours in the furnace, this is the final product was produced which is CNT. The weight of the sample after the process was recorded which is 166.66 g. Before being placed in the furnace, the sample weighed 173.29 g.

On the same day, after filtering the charcoal with HCl solutions, I soaked the charcoal in 0.5M NaOH solution.

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This is the charcoal that was soaked in 1.0M HCl solution for 16 hours.

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This is the charcoal that was soaked in 0.5 M NaOH solution for 16 hours.

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After soaking the charcoal, I filtered it. This picture shows the charcoal filtered in NaOH solution, which appears darker compared to HCl solution. After filtered it, I put it inside zip lock bag.

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on Monday, 10 Nov 2025, I conducted another experiment with different parameter using a 0.75M NaOH concentration. The procedure and duration remained the same as previous weeks. The same experiment is conducted weekly, only the NaOH concentration is changed, while other parameters remain constant which is the temperature at furnace.

This week, I learned that, during filtering charcoal in NaOH solutions, I should filter the charcoal residue at the bottom first to save more time because previous week I took a longer time to filter the charcoal in NaOH solution.

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On Tuesday, 18 November 2025, I soaked the charcoal with 1.0 M HCl around 3.00 p.m. Then, on Wednesday, 19 November 2025, I proceeded to filter the charcoal after 16 hours of soaking. After the filtration, I weighed the charcoal.

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On the same day, 19 November 2025, Madam Julia taught me how to prepare a 1.25 M NaOH solution. After preparing the solution, I proceeded to soak the charcoal for 16 hours in the solution.

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After soaking for 16 hours, I proceeded to filter the charcoal on Thursday, 20 November 2025. After filtration, I weighed the charcoal and recorded its weight before placing it in the oven. The charcoal was then dried in the oven at 100 °C and left overnight to ensure complete removal of moisture. This step was necessary to remove any remaining water before placing the charcoal to the furnace.

After leaving the charcoal overnight, I weighed it and recorded its weight. I then placed the charcoal in a crucible and put the crucible into the furnace at 350 °C for 2 hours. After heating, I allowed the charcoal to cool inside the furnace before removing it. Once cooled, I weighed the charcoal again. This procedure was carried out on Friday, 21 November 2025.

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On the same day, 21 November 2025, all previously prepared samples were dried in an oven at 100 °C for 2 hours. This step is important because it prevents mold growth and contamination of the samples.

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From 1 December to 5 December, I working preparing the report for my Final Year Project. In the following week, I will proceed to prepare the final sample, which is for a 1.0 M NaOH concentration. After preparing all the samples, the samples will be submitted for analysis.

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From 29 December 2025 to 02 January, I am doing further research for my report and at the same time, I am working on my report.

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For this week, we went to campus 2 to conduct UV‑VIS analysis. Before going there, we prepared our solid charcoal samples by converting them into solution, since the UV‑VIS spectrometer can only analyze samples in liquid form.

For the preparation, 0.1 g of charcoal was mixed with 100 ml of distilled water. The mixture was put tube place inside centrifuge at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes to ensure proper dispersion of the sample before UV‑VIS analysis.

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For week 9, I conducted my final sample which is using 1.0M NaOH. The step is the same as previous week.

First, the charcoal was soaked with 1.0M HCl for 16 hours. After that, the charcoal was filtered and rinsed with distilled water. The next step is, charcoal was soaked with 1.0M NaOH for 16 hours. After 16 hours, the charcoal was filtered and also rinsed with distilled water. After pretreatment, the charcoal was dried and placed in furnace for thermal processing.

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This week, I repeated the 0.5 M NaOH sample preparation because I had previously forgotten to collect the soaked NaOH sample. After completing the soaking step, the analysis sample was dried in an oven for 2 hours.

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Cordelia and I met with our supervisor to ask about the analysis required for our samples. Since the FTIR machine cannot be used, we needed to replace it by using conductivity as the new method of analysis.

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During Week 12, we conducted conductivity analysis and utilized a digital microscope. Based on the conductivity analysis, no significant results were obtained for my sample. This outcome was likely due to the use of a low temperature and the absence of a catalyst, both of which affected the performance of the analysis.

The size of the particles can only be observed through the microscope after pretreatment, drying, and thermal processing. However, the detailed structures such as single‑walled or multi‑walled CNTs cannot be seen with this instrument, as they require higher equipment like a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

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On Wednesday, 21 January 2026, we met again with our supervisor to check our report and correct the mistakes before submitting it.