title: Preparation of hydrophilic luffa sponges and their water absorption performance.
abstract: Hydrophilic luffa sponges are prepared by grafting polymerization of acrylamide (AM) on luffa cylindrica and subsequent partial hydrolysis under alkaline conditions. Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy is used to verify the composition of the grafted (luffa-g-PAM) and hydrolyzed (luffa-g-(PAM-co-PAANa)) samples. Alkalization conditions, including aqueous NaOH concentrations, alkalization temperature, and time, are studied extensively. Optimized conditions are then obtained. The grafting percentage (GP) of polyacrylamide increases with the feed ratios of [AM]/[OH] and [Ce]/[OH], reaction temperature, and time. Furthermore, the GP can reach up to 160%. Pristine, alkalized, grafted, and hydrolyzed luffa sponges show rapid absorption kinetics, and the pseudo second-order rate equation is applied to describe their kinetic procedure. Reaction conditions, such as [AM]/[OH], [Ce]/[OH], reaction temperature and time, influence the water absorption capacities of grafted and hydrolyzed samples. The hydrolyzed luffa sponges particularly exhibit high water absorption capacities of 75gg(-1). The absorption mechanism is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanxiong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Weicai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sha
authors.affiliation: Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China. Electronic address: wangzhe@ccut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China. Electronic address: xlji@ciac.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiangling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
keywords: Acrylamide; Grafting polymerization; Hydrolysis; Luffa sponges; Water absorption