Swelling behaviors of organic/inorganic composites based on various cellulose derivatives and inorganic particles

A series of cellulose/acrylic polymer/inorganic particle superabsorbent composites were prepared by graft copolymerization of acrylic monomer onto various cellulose derivatives and inorganic particles. The effects of cellulose derivatives and inorganic particles on equilibrium water absorbency and swelling rate of these superabsorbent composites were investigated. For the composites incorporated with different cellulose derivatives, equilibrium water absorbency and the swelling rate in distilled water and saline solution are always in the order carboxymethyl cellulose > without cellulose > hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose > methyl cellulose > hydroxyethyl cellulose. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) based superabsorbent composites acquired the equilibrium water absorbency in distilled water as good as that of montmorillonite (MMT) based one and prior to that without inorganic particle. However, the equilibrium water absorbency of SiO2 and TiO2 based superabsorbent composites in saline solution are similar to that of zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) based ones.