iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It gives me great pleasure to express my gratitude to the kind people around me that have made this dissertation possible. First and foremost, I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Misni Misran for his expert and valuable guidance, persistent help and encouragement extended to me throughout the course of this research.
I would like to address special thanks to the University of Malaya for their generous financial support towards my master studies. I would also like to thank all lecturers and staffs in the Department of Chemistry for their assiduous dedication.
I am grateful to Ms Tan Hsiao Wei, Ms Teo Yin Yin and Ms Saw Mei Mei for their insightful comments, advices, guidance and moral support in the achievement of this work. I am also indebted to the members of Colloid and Surfaces Laboratory for their help and support.
I would like to thank my parents for providing me the unconditional love and encouragement for all these years. I would also like to thank my friends, Karen Lee Siew Yen, Lau Siew Yee, Yee Li Lian and Tan Zhu Yin for their advice and encouragement during my master studies.