Synthesis and characterization of organogel from poly(acrylic acid) with cellulose acetate

Abstract

In the last decade, the interest in physical organogels has grown rapidly with the discovery and synthesis of a very large number of diverse molecules, which used organic solvents at low concentrations. New organogels based on poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) and cellulose acetate (CA) were prepared as thin films to study properties and swelling behavior. In organogels synthesis different crosslinking agent and initiator concentrations were studied. The swelling for PAA/CA organogels was carried out with acetone at 3 different temperatures (30°, 40° and 50 °C) and pH of 6.5 (pHacetone= 6.5). The higher swelling for PAA/CA organogels was 770% for 25PAA/75CA composition ratio with 3%wt N,N'-methylene-bis acrylamide (MBA) and 1%wt potassium persulphate (KPS) at 30 °C. The films were analyzed by FTIR and the presence of functional groups of each polymer was confirmed without secondary reactions. The DSC analysis indicated two glass transition temperatures (Tg); at 106 °C corresponding to PAA and 86 °C, corresponding to CA, respectively, indicative of phase separation, characteristic of gels. Surface morphology was analyzed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showing smooth surface and small crystal forms.