Meiyazhagan Ashokkumar

Transforming collagen wastes into doped nanocarbons for sustainable energy applications

Leather industry produces huge quantities of bio-waste that can be used as raw material for the bulk synthesis of carbonaceous materials. Here we report the synthesis of multifunctional carbon nanostructures from pristine collagen wastes by a simple high temperature treatment. Our studies reveal that the nanocarbons derived from the bio-waste have a partially graphitized structure with onion-like morphology and are naturally doped with nitrogen and oxygen, resulting in multifunctional properties. This synthetic route from bio-waste raw material provides a cost-effective alternative to existing chemical vapor deposition methods for the synthesis of functional nanocarbon materials and presents a sustainable approach to tailor nanocarbons for applications such as battery electrodes.

Three-Dimensional Porous Sponges from Collagen Biowastes

Three-dimensional, functional, and porous scaffolds can find applications in a variety of fields. Here we report the synthesis of hierarchical and interconnected porous sponges using a simple freeze-drying technique, employing collagen extracted from animal skin wastes and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. The ultralightweight, high-surface-area sponges exhibit excellent mechanical stability and enhanced absorption of organic contaminants such as oils and dye molecules. Additionally, these biocomposite sponges display significant cellular biocompatibility, which opens new prospects in biomedical uses. The approach highlights innovative ways of transforming biowastes into advanced hybrid materials using simple and scalable synthesis techniques.

Green Synthesis and Characterization of Hybrid Collagen–Cellulose–Albumin Biofibers from Skin Waste

Collagen (C) and cellulose are prominent biopolymers from the animal and plant kingdom and widely used in bioengineering. Albumin, on the other hand, is the most abundant plasma protein present in mammalian blood. In this work, collagen extracted from animal skin waste was blended with hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and bovine serum albumin (A) and wet-spun to form hybrid biodegradable C/HEC/A fibers. They were further cross-linked with glutaraldehyde vapors and analyzed. X-ray diffraction and infra-red spectroscopic studies of the hybrid fibers display peaks corresponding to collagen, cellulose, and albumin. Incorporation of cellulose into the biopolymeric matrix leads to a reasonable improvement in mechanical, swelling, and thermal properties of hybrid fibers. Addition of albumin improves the regularity of fiber surface without altering the porosity as observed under a microscope. Hence, the formed hybrid biofibers can be potentially used as a suture material as well as for different biomedical applications due to their improved properties.

Micro- and nanopatterning of biomaterial surfaces

Abstract Patterning technologies have expanded drastically over the past two decades with continual development in current and future lithography methods. Specifically, micro- and nanopatterning techniques have been widely studied in a broad range of fields, from molecular biology research to communications technology. In general, micro- and nanofabrication techniques cover a variety of patterning methods; among them, photolithography is considered powerful since all integrated circuits (ICs) are fabricated using this method. Another common patterning technology is soft lithography, which includes microcontact printing (μCP), microtransfer molding (μTM), replica molding (REM), micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC), injection molding, and many other processes. The purpose of this invited chapter is to provide a brief overview of the different lithographic techniques specifically, photolithography, soft lithography, and electron-beam lithography, where we discuss the developments, issues, and major challenges associated with these technologies. Also in this chapter, we demonstrate a simple, inexpensive method for fabricating micrometer resolution protein patterns using a soft-lithographic technique. We believe that the contents discussed in this section, along with the demonstrated soft lithography procedure, will be helpful for a broad range of readers.

Hybrid composites using natural polymer blends and carbon nanostructures: Preparation, characterization, and applications

Abstract Hybrid nanobiocomposite materials consisting of natural polymeric matrix reinforced with nanofillers are becoming increasingly important for structural applications in which a combination of high strength and stiffness, durability, and biocompatibility and relatively low weight plays key requirements. Collagen macromolecules are one of the most widely used natural biopolymers, present in the skins of animals, and have various applications in fields related to materials science and technology. These valuable proteinaceous materials are disposed of as wastes during leather processing. The biocompatibility, relative abundance, and ease of processing are the other rationales for selection of this raw material. Herein, we present the preparation of hybrid conducting nanobiocomposites utilizing the collagen extracted from proteinaceous wastes blended with ecobenign biopolymers and nanocarbons. The developed hybrid composites were found to possess interesting properties that fit for a wide range of applications.

Structure-Property Relation between Non-Mulberry Silk Fabrics and Goat Suede Leather

Lack of availability of good quality leather and growing demand for products force the researchers to find alternative materials or to partially substitute the usage of leather in products. Eco-friendly biodegradable materials are the need of the hour owing to growing environmental issues associated with the synthetic polymers. This study aims at assessing the physical, comfort, structural and thermal properties of non-mulberry silks such as eri, muga and a blend of eri and muga (EM) fabrics for their suitability to combine with goat suede leather for apparel application. It was found that all the selected fabrics exhibit comparable or even better comfort and mechanical properties to that of goat suede leather. Indeed tensile strength of muga fabric is much superior to goat suede leather. On the other hand, goat suede leather dominates in percentage elongation compared to all the selected fabrics. Scanning electron microscopy and FT-IR spectroscopic analysis provide convincing evidences on the fact that all the selected silk fabrics are based on non-mulberry varieties. The thermal stability of all the three silk fabrics is better than goat suede leather. The results of this study suggest that the selected silk fabrics can be used for making apparel as well as other variety of products in combination with leather.