Dual crosslinked keratin-alginate fibers formed via ionic complexation of amide networks with improved toughness for assembling into braids

With the dwindling of petroleum resources worldwide, there is an immediate need for a renewable, environment friendly, cost effective and sustainable bio-resource in the textile industry. Here, we report a dual crosslinked fiber (DCF) derived from renewable biopolymers. In this study, keratin was extracted from bio-waste of chicken feathers with a thiol content of 0.172 mM. The extracted keratin was used to prepare dope with alginate at different ratios and N-(3-Dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride via amide linkages. The formation of covalently crosslinked dope was evidenced from FTIR and ninhydrin assay. The dope was then extruded in calcium bath to produce fibers with uniform diameter wherein the calcium ions were used to ionically crosslink the covalently crosslinked dope. The resulting dual crosslinked fibers were characterized in terms of chemical composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, thermal degradation, and swelling. The strength, modulus and toughness of the dual crosslinked fibers were substantially improved by 27%, 20%, and 33% respectively than that of control alginate fiber. The gravimetric toughness of the optimised dual crosslinked fiber (724 J g−1) was much higher than the values reported for Kevlar (78 J g−1). We further assembled the dual crosslinked fibers into complex braided architectures using the textile techniques, demonstrating the flexibility of the fibers. We believe that this preliminary work of sustainable fiber production could open new insights into eco-friendly organic textile manufacturing and for tissue engineering applications.