Upcycling of banana peel wastes to ultra-strong and functional vegan leather enabled by marine-sourced all-biomass materials
발표자
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초록
내용
Leather from skins of animals is necessary tanning treatment to prevent the degradation of the leather. However, the tanning process causes serious odor owing to the use of toxic chemicals such as metal salts and hexavalent chromium. Therefore, we fabricated sustainable, ultra-strong, and functional vegan leather by upcycling banana peel (BP) wastes. Firstly, the BP-based solutions (BSC solutions) were prepared by mixing fine-grained BP, sodium alginate (SA), and chitosan nanowhisker (CSW) and then the BSC solutions were casted on glass (BSC film). After completion of crosslinking and plasticizing processes of BSC film, the BSC leather can be obtained. The prepared BSC leather exhibited 1.2 GPa and 39.5 MPa in Young’s modulus (E) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), respectively, which is higher than that of commercial mango leather (0.1 GP and 5.1 MPa in E and UTS). Furthermore, the BSC leather can be utilized to the temperature-responsive smart leather applications.