Effective utilization of tannery hair waste to develop a high-performing re-tanning agent for cleaner leather manufacturing.

Accumulation of hair waste is a major burden to the leather industry, causing a negative impact on the industry's sustainable development. The industry is already bogged down by the usage of synthetic re-tanning agents that are not only extremely challenging for biodegradation but also release free-form of formaldehyde in the final leather stage. This research work focuses on developing a formaldehyde-free bio-based re-tanning agent from hair waste.

"Click" polymerization on a self-assembled monolayer: a convenient approach to functionalize various surfaces with polytriazoles.

"Click" polymerization reaction has been performed on the functional self-assembled monolayer to incorporate polytriazoles. Ellipsometric and atomic force microscopic studies indicated a high degree of polymerization and fairly dense surface coverage. Band gap calculation revealed the possibility of its use as a semiconducting material.