Organic contaminants: photocatalytic degradation using HHP/CuONPs (2D/3D) composite as a heterogeneous catalyst.

Human hair is a filament rich in protein that grows from the follicles present in the scalp. It is considered to be a notable biomaterial consisting of β-keratin, which shows excellent catalytic activity in organic transformation. Keratin is a family of structural fibrous proteins rich in cysteine, which are abundantly present in human hair. Based on the template synthesis strategy, human-hair Keratin was used as a platform template to synthesise metal oxide nanoparticles. Here the aim was to synthesis hair protein supported CuO nanoparticles (HHP/CuONPs) and study their catalytic applications. Protein is extracted from the hair sample using the Shindai method. The HHP/CuONPs sample has been scrutinised using various characterisation techniques such as UV, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, EDX, Raman, XPS, and zeta potential. The synthesised HHP/CuONPs show photo-catalytic efficiency against coloured organic pollutants, 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP), and amaranth dye. The degradation level has been found to be 96% in DNP and 94% in amaranth dye. Optimisation and reusability of hair protein-mediated copper oxide have been tested under various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]