Repurposing human hair keratins into novel fibers based on interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation

• Main Authors: Foo, Laura Li-En, Ng, Kee Woei
• Other Authors: Interdisciplinary Graduate School (IGS)
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials; Human Hair; Keratin Fibers
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/170194; https://ap2023.termis.org/
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Millions of tonnes of human hair accumulate in landfills or are incinerated annually, contributing to environmental pollution. However, human hair contains keratins which is a valuable biomaterial as they are biocompatible, biodegradable and bioactive. In addition, as the keratins are of human origin, there is a lower risk of interspecies disease transmission compared to animal-derived biomaterials. Interfacial Polyelectrolyte Complexation (IPC) is a straightforward method to produce micrometer-sized fibers. However, no research has focused on the use of human hair keratins to produce IPC fibers.