Carbon quantum dots incorporated keratin/polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels: Preparation and photoluminescent assessment

[Display omitted] •Carbon dots incorporated keratin/PVA hydrogels were prepared by EBI approach.•The hydrogel shows the excellent luminescent property.•It showed sufficient swelling property.•It can be considered as an effective material for medical diagnosis. In this work, we report a fabrication of photoluminescent carbon dots (C-dots) incorporated keratin/poly (vinyl alcohol) (keratin/PVA) hydrogel via an electron beam irradiation technique. Hydrogels with porous structure along with homogeneous networks were obtained by this ecofriendly approach. The prepared hydrogels showed excitation dependant photoluminescent (PL) emission similar to the C-dots. The well preserved quantum confinement effect of the C-dots in the hydrogel can extend its application to biological analysis and medical diagnosis in the future.