Water Sorption Studies and Adsorptive Features of Highly Swollen Acrylamide-Based Ternary Hydrogels for Uranyl Ions

Abstract

Highly swollen hydrogels made by the polymerization of acrylamide with citraconic acid and sodium acrylate were investigated as a function of composition to find materials with swelling and uranyl ion sorption properties. The hydrogels were prepared by free radical solution polymerization in aqueous solutions of monomers and two multifunctional cross-linkers such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylate. Swelling experiments were performed in water at 25°C, gravimetrically. Some swelling kinetic parameters were found. Water diffusion was found to be non-Fickian in character. For sorption of uranyl ions into the hydrogels was studied by batch sorption technique at 25°C.

Keywords:

• Acrylamide
• Citraconic acid
• Sodium acrylate
• Swelling
• Ternary hydrogels
• Uranyl ion sorption