Preparation and surface crosslinking of biodegradable superabsorbent polymer (SAP)

Abstract

Superabsorbent poly mer (SAP) is a lightly crosslinked three dimensional polymer network that is capable of absorbing thousands of times its own weight of water. However, there is a problem that does not biodegrade itself and pollutes the environment. Therefore, lots of stud ies on various biobased materials applicable to SAP have been conducted. We radically copolymerized the biobased monomers, itaconic acid and another monomer of the vinyl group, on an aqueous solution basis. Synthetic conditions were studied by adjusting va rious parameters to improve the mechanical properties, water absorption rate, residual monomer content, water permeability, and water absorption performance of the synthesized SAP. In addition, various cellulosic additives were introduced to promote biodeg radation, and the surface of the polymer was crosslinked with four crosslinkers to compare absorption performance. As a result, the performance of SAP which added nano cellulose and crosslinked the surface using and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether was the best. It was confirmed by FT IR and XPS that cellulose was successfully introduced to SAP, and the surface was crosslinked. The surface structure of SAP was confirmed by SEM, and thermal properties were also confirmed by TGA.