Facile Synthesis of Carbon Dots from Chicken Feathers via Catalytic Hydrothermal Method for Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract Chicken feathers have a high keratin content and have the potential to be used to create novel materials, such as Carbon dots (C-dots). C-dots are zero-dimensional carbon materials that can cause fluorescence, making them useful as photocatalysts. A hydrothermal technique using hydrochloric acid as catalysis with various concentrations (2, 4, and 6 M) was designed to synthesize C-dots from chicken feathers to generate a crystalline carbon core. The C-dots show that the functional groups C-O, C=C, and O-H are present in the FTIR data, and the functional group C-H increases with acid content. UV-Vis results reveal an absorbance peak at 270 and 380 nm, indicating the presence of a C-dot core. The photoluminescence measurement results, which show a cyan luminescence emission intensity peak at 430 and 460 nm, strengthen the indication of C-dots formation. According to the photodegradation results, the C-dots sample reduced the methylene blue content at the CD-2 sample by up to 80%. The synthesized C-dots derived from chicken feathers are efficient and eco-friendly materials with the potential for wastewater treatment and environmental sustainability.