Wool fiber contains approximately 95% keratinous proteins, which is one of the most abundant sources of structural protein. However, a large amount of wool waste is underutilized. Developing appropriate approaches to recycle wool waste and produce value-added products is vital for sustainable development and reducing environmental burden. Thus, this paper reviews the mechanical methods of fabricating

Chromium shavings are wet by-products of the leather industry, of which thousands of tons accrue worldwide during leather manufacture. Due to their chromium content, chromium shavings are responsible for the most important ecological challenges caused by the leather industry. They are stable towards temperatures of up to 110 °C and enzymatic degradation. This high stability is caused by the three-dimensional

Metallomacromolecules are frequently encountered in redox proteins including metal-tanned hide collagen and play crucial roles involving supramolecular properties in biological electron-transfer processes. They are also currently found in non-natural families, such as: metallopolymers, metallodendrimers and metallodendronic polymers. This mini-review discusses the supramolecular redox functions of

The glycoconjugates, herein glyco-proteins, existing in animal skins are closely related to the effectiveness of unhairing and fiber opening-up. Glycosidases have been used in leather making processes to reduce pollutants and improve leather quality. But the selection of glycosidases is still blind because the related mechanisms are not well understood yet. Hence, the animal skin structures and glycoconjugates

Fast walking and jogging are two common exercises for people to maintain health in daily life. But the differences in loading patterns of fast walking and jogging are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare loading patterns in fast walking and jogging at the same speed, and to identify how differences in foot mechanics influence plantar pressure distribution between the two modes of

Since microwave irradiation could promote hydrolysis and olation of chromium tanning liquor, but the influence of microwave on chromium complex component in the liquor was still unknown. Chromium sulphate solution (0% basicity) and 33% basicity chromium tanning liquor were subjected microwave (MW) and water bath (WB) heating, and the samples without any warming were regarded as control. Ion exchange

As an imitation of genuine leather, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) artificial materials are versatile, but suffers from being flammable due to the presence of large amounts of combustible plasticizers. Under such circumstance, intrinsically flame-retardant plasticizers displaying dual functions have been a subject of intensive research interest. However, previous strategies attempting to covalently attach

A promising and practical chrome-free tanning system has been developed based on a novel Al–Zr bimetal complex tanning agent. However, to achieve satisfactory resultant leather, the retanning process that is compatible with this emerging tannage needs to be investigated systematically. This paper aims to explore the interaction between the bimetal complex tanned wet white and retanning agents. The

The templated synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles using biomass, such as proteins and polysaccharides, has generated great interest in recent years. In this work, we report on denatured proteins as a novel template for the preparation of water-soluble metal nanoparticles with excellent stability even after high speed centrifugation or storage at room temperature for one year. Different noble metal

It has been a research goal to develop macroscopic materials with an optimized surface structure to affix silver nanoparticles which could contaminate water and maximize their practical functions. Cellulose paper is a versatile biomass material valued for its abundance, low cost, biocompatibility, and natural composition. Until now, its potential application in water purification has not been adequately

Genuine leather is often coated before making daily necessities such as shoes, clothing, bags, sofas, car seats, etc., so as to impart leather products various colours, higher wear resistance and water resistance and so on. However, the coating of these products is often damaged in daily use which will decrease its aesthetic effect and practicability. Therefore, how to improve the scratch resistance

A series of amphiphilic hyperbranched polymers (AHP-s, the “s” refers to the algebra of AHP) were synthesized by the reaction between hydroxyl-terminated hyperbranched polymers (HBP-s, the “s” refers to the algebra of HBP) and palmitoyl chloride. FTIR, NMR and GPC were used to determine the structure of AHP-s, the results showed that AHP-s exhibits core-shell structure. The thermal properties of polymers

There is a substantial loss of value in bovine leather every year due to a leather quality defect known as “looseness”. Data show that 7% of domestic hide production is affected to some degree, with a loss of $35 m in export returns. This investigation is devoted to gaining a better understanding of tight and loose wet blue leather based on vibrational spectroscopy observations of its structural variations

The aim of this research is to develop a novel non-leaching antimicrobial waterborne polyurethane (WPU) leather coating material with covalently attached quaternary phosphonium salt (QPS). The structure of the QPS-bearing WPU has been identified, and their thermal stability, mechanical property, and antimicrobial performance have been investigated. The results reveal that the incorporation of QPS slightly

The medial longitudinal arch height has an effect on kinetic parameters during gait and might be related to the risk of injury. For the assessment of foot structures, the center of pressure (COP) trajectory is a more reliable and practical parameter than plantar pressure. This study aimed to clarify the COP trajectory and velocity characteristics in the medial-lateral and anterior-posterior direction

The dissolution of collagen in ionic liquids (ILs) was highly dependent on the polarity of ILs, which was influenced by their sorts and concentrations. Herein, the solubility and dispersion degree of collagen in two sorts of ILs, namely 1-ethyl-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]) with low polarity and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM][Ac]) with high polarity in a concentration

Collagen structure in biological tissues imparts its intrinsic physical properties by the formation of several covalent crosslinks. For the first time, two major crosslinks in the skin dihydroxylysinonorleucine (HLNL) and histidinohydroxymerodesmosine (HHMD), were isotopically labelled and then analysed by liquid-chromatography high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and small-angle

Thermal degradation of vegetable-tanned leather fiber (VLF) was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis aiming to know the exact kinetics and degradation mechanism. The thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) curves showed that decomposition of the VLF occurs mainly in the range of 150–600 °C, and the latter exhibits asymmetrical peak with a pronounced shoulder. The decomposition

Green solvents, such as propylene carbonate (PC), can be used in leather processing to improve the efficiency of chrome tanning and reduce wastewater. Here we report a combined small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study on PC and its efficacy as a carrier medium during chrome tanning. SAXS analysis on the collagen structure of chrome tanned leather using PC

Pressure sensor can be applied in a wide range of fields, such as voice recognition, human motions detection and artificial electronic skin, the sensing of which is greatly influenced by the flexibility and stretchability of substrate materials. Here, based on the piezoresistive effect, new kinds of flexible pressure sensors have been realized from a pair of flexible and biocompatible collagen films:

Leather making is the process of converting raw hides into leather. Amounts of solid waste containing hazardous and high value components are generated during this process. Therefore, the elimination of the potential pollution and resource utilization of leather solid waste are the primary research hotspots. Herein, we comprehensively review the recent advances in the resource utilization of leather

Nowadays, the increasing demands from consumer challenges the traditional leather products. Traditional polymer leather finishes gradually lose their dominant position in the market. To address this issue, recent research effort has been devoted to developing polymer-based organic-inorganic nanocomposite leather finishes due to their various functional properties including antibacterial, self-cleaning

The removal of chromium (Cr) from wastewater by various adsorbents has been investigated. As compared with the commercial activated carbon, the biosorbents with inexpensive and high adsorption capacities are developed from lignocellulosic wastes. Lignin, existing in lignocellulosic biomass, is the second most abundant resource in nature. Recently, lignin-based bio-sorbents were served as an advanced

A facile synthesis procedure is proposed to prepare homogeneous Zr and Ti co-doped SBA-15 (Zr-Ti-SBA-15) with high specific surface area of 876.0 m2 g− 1. Based on “masking mechanism” from tanning, lactic acid was used as masking agent to obtain the uniform distribution of Zr and Ti species in the SBA-15 framework. The obtained materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen

Bating pelt with protease is an important process, which removes unwanted non-collagenous proteins from the pelt and moderately disperse hide collagen network. However, the grain surface, may be excessively hydrolyzed during bating due to the longer retention time of protease in the grain than in the middle layer caused by the low mass transfer rate of protease in pelt. Here, the effects of protease

Processing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) artificial material requires plasticizer that softens the PVC coating. Currently, utilizing unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters to obtain epoxidized fatty acid methyl ester (EFAME) bio-plasticizers constitutes an environmentally responsible solution to substitute conventional ortho-phthalates that are endocrine disruptors or probable carcinogens. However, commercial