Fast‐swelling superabsorbent polymers with polymerizable macromolecular surfactant as crosslinker

Abstract

Fast‐swelling superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) have been prepared by micellar cross‐linking copolymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide using polymerizable macromolecular surfactants (PMSs) as multifunctional crosslinkers, with a foaming technique. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)/acetone and Pluronic F127 were used as foam (or porosity) generators and stabilizer, respectively. It has been found that the PMSs with different polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain length have little effect on the swelling rate of the SAPs, while the foam generators are crucial. In addition, the monomer concentration and the concentration of the PMS are important to the fast swelling rate of the SAPs. For a balance of a relatively fast‐swelling rate, high water absorbency under load and low cost in drying, a monomer concentration of above 50%, 0.08% PMS, and 5% NaHCO3 are preferable. The water absorbency of SAP prepared under optimal conditions could reach half of equilibrium water absorbency in 30 seconds and the saline water absorbency under load could reach 18.4 g/g. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44173.

Superabsorbent polymer: application in natural rubber for making rubber roofing sheets

“…However, viscosity was decreased for other NaPA by increasing testing time and the viscosity slightly increased. Increasing cross-linker content leads to reduced swelling (Figure 6) and the movement of polymer networks is restricted (Chen and Huang, 2016).…”

Structural Modifications of Sodium Polyacrylate-Polyacrylamide to Enhance Its Water Absorption Rate

“…The specific surface area could be enhanced by the generation of a porous structure in SAP to absorb a large amount of water in a short amount of time [17]. There are various methods to prepare the porous structure of SAPs, such as phase inversion [18], freeze-drying and hydration, water-soluble porogens, and foaming [19]. Kabiri et al [20] utilized acetone and sodium bicarbonate as the porogens to prepare a high-porosity structure by optimizing reaction conditions.…”

Fabrication of a fast‐swelling superabsorbent resin by inverse suspension polymerization

“…It was reported that the fast Q t s of SAPs mainly resulted from the faster diffusion of water into the polymeric network through the capillary effect of the porous microstructure . In recent years, SAPs with porous microstructures were obtained through the phase‐separation technique, freeze‐drying technology, and the introduction of foaming agents and water‐soluble porogens in an aqueous solution polymerization . Ma et al .…”

“…reported ecofriendly, crosslinked guar gum‐ g ‐poly(acrylate) porous superabsorbent hydrogels with the addition of foam stabilizer and water‐soluble porogens exhibited higher swelling ratios in various environments than the corresponding nonporous superabsorbent hydrogel. The SAPs prepared through a physical or chemical foaming system presented high water‐absorption abilities and fast Q t s, but the methods mainly yielded SAPs with broad macropore size distributions with a mixture of open and closed pores . Recently, it was reported that SAPs obtained with an interconnected open cellular structure with an anionic surfactant as a pore‐forming micelle template presented excellent Q t s .…”