Characterization of hydrogel synthesized from natural polysaccharides blend grafted acrylamide using microwave (MW) and ultraviolet (UV) techniques

Abstract

AbstractGrafting is a powerful method for producing substantial modification in the polysaccharide polymer properties thereby enlarging the range of its utilization. The aim of this work is to identify the appropriate conditions for grafting a candidate synthetic monomer (acrylamide) onto a blend of polysaccharides (PsB) comprising of starch, chitosan, and alginate. Grafting process was carried out in the presence of a low concentration of potassium persulfate initiator and methylenebisacrylamide crosslinker using microwave (MW) or ultraviolet (UV) irradiation techniques. Different Am/PsB weight ratios (0.6–0.96) has been performed. The produced hydrogel was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) as well as nitrogen percent (%N). This study is focusing on comparing hydrogel samples in terms of grafting percentage (%G), grafting efficiency (%GE) and %add‐on. UV graft PsB (PsB‐g‐Am) gave the highest %G (157.8%), %GE (84%), %add‐on (61.95%) and %N (8.79%). Swelling water ratio (SWR) for the grafted samples in distilled water (DW) and different pH solutions (3–13) has been studied. UV grafted hydrogel gave a maximum SWR of 39 g/g. Am/PsB weight ratio and irradiation source had a direct effect on SWR of the produced hydrogel.