Synthesis of superporous hydrogel beads

• Main Author: Ho, Eunice Pei Shi.
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48418
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Due to mother natural and global warming that leads to climatic changes, we cannot deny the fact that there is an exponential increase in the occurrence of natural disasters. The aftermath of the disaster includes the outspread of water borne diseases that is a crucial worldwide issue that requires long term solution. In this research, biocompatible and non-toxic solution to absorb and extract portable clean water using minimal manpower and cost were studied. Thus a novel application of hydrogel beads known as superporous hydrogel beads that were fabricated to absorb clean water faster was studied. The performance of superporous hydrogel beads was evaluated based on the ability to absorb pathogen free water and the reusability. It was found that higher concentration of chitosan will lead to higher cumulative percentage increase in the long run, and a lower concentration of sodium bicarbonate will lead to higher water absorbance ability. Mechanical strength can be improved, but the increase in the crosslink density will lead to lower absorbance ability. The synthesized superporous hydrogel beads were found to be able to have a cumulative percentage increase more than 650% of its dried mass. The superporous hydrogel were able to withstand repeated test cycles but unable to filter pathogen after second test. The preliminary characterization of the superporous hydrogel beads morphology was done using optical microscope and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).