In
this work, hydrophobic association physical hydrogels were prepared
by photoinitiated copolymerization of acrylic acid and butyl acrylate,
followed by water immersion. The chemical structure, mechanical properties,
self-healing behavior, and self-recovery properties of the physical
hydrogels were studied in detail. The hydrogel possessed a large number
of carboxyl groups owing to its high content of acrylic acid, and
it was used to adsorb cationic dye. Different from brittle chemical
hydrogels, the as-prepared physical hydrogels exhibited good tolerance
to microwave heating. Thus, the dye-adsorbed hydrogel was successfully
applied for microwave-assisted Fenton degradation of cationic dyes.
Starting from the unique structure and properties of physical hydrogels,
this work successfully explored application scenarios of these systems
in dye adsorption and microwave-assisted degradation. The present
findings will contribute to understand the relationships among structure,
properties, and practical applications of physical hydrogels.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.