Effect of reinforced Al₂O₃ nanoparticles on collagen nanobiocomposite from chrome-containing leather waste for biomedical applications

The present study aims at developing nanobiocomposite from collagen extracted from solid biowaste, chrome-containing leather waste having aluminium oxide nanoparticles as reinforcement for value-added products. The extracted collagen was confirmed using sodium dodecyl sulphate-poly(acrylamide) gel electrophoresis technique, while Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the physicochemical and morphological properties of the prepared composites. Enhanced thermal stability and increase in denaturation temperature from 39 to 43 °C with the increase in aluminium oxide content from 2 to 10 % in the composites were confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analyses. Improved mechanical properties such as tensile, tear and flexural strength for the nanobiocomposites (NBCs) were also obtained. Moreover, decrease in water uptake from 475 to 285 % with the increase in aluminium oxide nanoparticles is attributed to the reduced porosity and their weak interaction with collagen that reduces the hydrophilicity of the NBCs. The above results indicate that the collagen-based NBCs present a simple, clean and easy route for effective recycling and recovery of biowaste that could find use in hip prosthesis and has the potential to be used in other biomedical applications.