Eco-friendly superabsorbent polymers based on carboxymethyl cellulose strengthened by TEMPO-mediated oxidation wheat straw cellulose nanofiber

Superabsorbent Polymers (SAPs) have found widespread uses into the disposable personal hygiene, the medical-care and agricultural sections. The purpose of the current study is to produce green SAPs based on different cellulose derivatives and to explore the wheat straw cellulose nanofiber strengthening capabilities as an emerging bionanomaterial. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose with varying amount of hydroxyethyl cellulose and TEMPO-mediated Cellulose Nanofibers (TCNFs) were used for the SAPs preparation. The results showed that increasing the citric acid as a crosslinking agent yielded decreasing the swelling capacity of the SAPs. The best swelling capacity was found to be 200 gr/gr along with addition of 10% TCNF. The ionic sensitivity of the SAPs was varied from 0.73-0.98 and also decreased with increasing TCNF content. Owning to biodegradable and non-toxic properties, the produced SAPs with appropriate swelling capacity are promising for potential applications in hygienic and horticultural sectors and can be replaced with synthetic ones.