Synthesis and Swelling Behaviors of Yeast-g-Poly(acrylic acid) Superabsorbent Co-polymer

The native yeasts microbes were used to prepare novelly eco-friendly water superabsorbent co-polymers, because of their unique physicochemical/biological properties, including biodegradability, biocompatibilities, as well as natural abundance. Specially, the hybrid superabsorbents were successfully synthesized by graft co-polymerization of monomers acrylic acid onto the surface of yeasts by using ammonium persulfate as a free-radical initiator and N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide as a cross-linker in aqueous solution. The structure of obtained products was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Factors such as the weight ratio of monomers to yeast, the content of initiator, the concentration of cross-linker, and the degree of neutralization were investigated. The results showed that the swelling and deswelling behaviors of the superabsorbent significantly was dependent on temperature, concentration of the salt sol...