The UNY students team has presented “Nanocomposite ZnO/Carbon Dots Cassava Outer Shell as a Photocatalyst for Methylene Blue Dyes Waste Degradation” at the World Youth Invention and Innovation Award (WYIIA) 2021. Their presentation has succeeded in convincing the judges to give award silver medals.

The team consisting of Dwi Nurul Fajriah, Indana Sulistyaningrum (Chemistry), Ulfi Rohmawati (Physics), Eka Nurrohmah Rahmadanti, and Ilham Maulana (English Education) managed to excel in the competition which was participated by 377 teams from 35 countries. The team's findings are that methylene blue  is easily founded in many textile dyeing processes. This synthetic dye is not environmentally friendly, carcinogenic and toxic.

“Our team innovated to composite ZnO with C-Dots obtained from cassava peel as a photocatalyst. The addition of C-Dots will expand the active surface of the photocatalyst so that the degradation performance of methylene blue dye waste can be more optimal,” said Dwi Nurul Fajriah. With this method, it is hoped that it can encourage the achievement of sustainable development goals in responsible consumption and production (Witono, Tj.Lak)