Fabrication of Superabsorbent Material from Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Seaweed

Superabsorbent polymer (SAP) is a functional material that forms a three-dimensional network structure through cross-linking between polymer chains. Cellulose is widely used as a raw material for producing functional materials, such as SAPs, but has the disadvantage of lowering physical properties compared to 100% petroleum-based SAPs. In this work, cellulose-based SAPs with a mixture of seaweed and CMC cross-linked with acrylic acid were prepared and then compared with two commercial SAPs in terms of their swelling abilities and gel morphologies after swelling tests. The best swelling ability with the seaweed absorbent was 178.9/g in distilled water. Although the overall swelling property of the seaweed absorbent material was rather lower than those of two commercial petro-based and cellulose-based SAPs, the morphology of the seaweed gels after swelling tests was significantly improved and comparable to the commercial cellulose-based SAP.