Synthesis and Characterization of Polyacrylamide/Crotonic Acid and Its Composites with Carbon Nanotube and Rhodamine B

Abstract

Polyacrylamide hydrogel is a chemically three-dimensionality cross-linked polymer network that has the ability to absorb large quantities of water due to its swelling property. in this study, polyacrylamide copolymer was synthesized by using acrylamide and crotonic acid as monomers, N,N′methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) used as a crosslinker, and Potassium Persulfate (KPS, 98%) as the catalyst for radical copolymerization. A simple technique (water bath, closed glass tube) was used to synthesis this copolymer and its composites. the characterization of synthesized copolymers was done using FTIR spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Also, copolymers were examined by swelling behavior with the change in the media pH (1.2-7.4). The results have shown the maximum capacity of swelling (>600%) in neutral media (7.4).