Abstract

Inverse suspension polymerization method was applied to prepare poly(itaconic acid) based superabsorbent particles. The polymerization process was investigated to determine the influence of different parameters on the water absorption properties. It was found that processing parameters, such as oil/aqueous phase ratio, surfactant, stirring speed, as well as concentrations of initiator and crosslinker needed to be optimized to achieve high water absorbency. The hydrolysis sensitivity of the divinyl crosslinker in water affected the crosslinking efficiency to show better performance with hydrolytically stable diacrylamide than diacrylate. The washing solvent to remove surfactant also highly influence the water absorbency of the prepared SAP particles, and solvent with lower polarity induced the collapse of the pores in the SAP particles to give lower value of water absorbency.

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