The influence of monomer composition and surface-crosslinking condition on biodegradation and gel strength of super absorbent polymer

In this study, a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) comprising poly (IA-co-cellulose-co-VSA-co-AA; ICVA) core-SAP (CSAP) was synthesized through radical polymerization using itaconic acid (IA), acrylic acid (AA), cellulose, and vinyl sulfonic acid (VSA) as monomers. The absorption performances and relative biodegradability of various compositions prepared by adjusting the amounts of cellulose and VSA with constant IA and AA content were compared. Increasing the cellulose content in CSAP contributed to improved biodegradation of the surface-crosslinked SAP (SSAP) and gel strength, although the free absorbency (FA) and centrifuge retention capacity (CRC) decreased. Increasing the VSA content resulted in strong anionicity, which enables the absorption of large amounts of water. Surface-crosslinking technology was applied to the CSAP synthesized with the optimal composition ratio to increase its absorption performance and gel strength. Improved performance of the synthesized SSAP (a CRC of 30.4 g/g, absorbency under load (AUL) of 23.3 g/g, and permeability of 55 s) was achieved by selecting the optimal surface-crosslinking treatment time and the amount of distilled water in the surface-crosslinking solution: as the latter was increased in the surface-crosslinking solution, the AUL and permeability of the SSAP were improved, and its biodegradability was found to be 54% compared to the 100% biodegradable cellulose hydrogel in the control group.