Preparation of a kaolinite–poly(acrylic acid acrylamide) water superabsorbent by photopolymerization

Abstract

A novel kaolinite-poly(acrylic acid acrylamide) water superabsorbent with a water absorbency and salt solution absorbency of 433 and 108 g/g, respectively, was successfully synthesized by the photopolymerization of acrylic acid with acrylamide in the presence of kaolinite powder under 30 min of ultraviolet irradiation at room temperature. The results showed a synergetic effect of the mixed photoinitiators (Michler's ketone and benzophenone) on the water absorbency, and the incorporation of less than 10 wt % kaolinite into the water superabsorbent slightly improved the water absorbency and salt solution absorbency and obviously upgraded the water retention, as demonstrated by retention testing as well as thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy verified the structure of the kaolinite composite superabsorbent.

Synthesis and Characterization of Montmorillonite-Graft-Acrylic Acid Superabsorbent by Using Glow-Discharge Electrolysis Plasma

“…Thereby, various techniques are appearing for improving the properties of superabsorbents. Roughly, it may be classified into two categories, i.e., initiated polymerization by using chemicals [8,11] and by physical techniques, for example, photo-polymerization [12], irradiation-polymerization [13], plasma-polymerization [14] and so on. Various physical methods have little pollution to environment, in which the GDEP has more advantages such as lower cost in set-up and easy operation in polymerization.…”

Optimization of Preparing Poly(AM-DMDAAC)/MMT Superabsorbent Nanocomposite by Orthogonal Experiment

“…Due to their excellent characteristics that highly water absorbency, superabsorbents have attracted continuous interests and found potential applications in varieties industrial fields such as personal hygienic products, 1 controlled release carrier of drug, 2 petrochemical, agriculture and horticulture. [3][4][5][6] However, the higher production cost, low water absorbency in salt solution and low gel strength of these superabsorbents limit their application widely. So how to enhance those prop- † To whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

Preparation and characterization of poly(acryl amide-coacrylic acid)/nay and Clinoptilolite nanocomposites with improved methylene blue dye removal behavior from aqueous solution

“…Thus, many potential applications of conventional polymeric hydrogels have been restricted or abandoned because of their limitations. In past several years some attempts have been done to modify the properties of super absorbents by incorporation of nano or micro particles of inorganic materials such as montmorillonite [21][22][23], kaolin [24,25], mica [26], sercite [27], bentonite [28] and laponite clay [15] into polymer networks . Incorporation of these mineral powders not only reduces costs but also improves the properties (such as swelling ability, gel strength, mechanical and thermal stability) [28].…”