Superabsorbent polymeric structures
Provided herein is a superabsorbent polyHIPE composition-of-matter comprising a majority of ionizable pendant groups, capable of absorbing up to 300-fold by mass water while exhibiting a notable mechanical strength in both the dry and wet form, as well as various uses thereof.
1. A flood or spill control device comprising a super-absorbent material, wherein:
said super-absorbent material comprises a crosslinked polymer having a microstructure of a polymerized external phase of a high internal phase emulsion and characterized by a dry density that ranges from 0.05 g/cm 3 to 0.4 g/cm 3 and derived from an oil-in-water high internal phase emulsion that comprises an organic internal phase and an aqueous external phase (oil-in-water emulsion);
said crosslinked polymer is further characterized by a crosslinking level that ranges from 0.1 to 15 mol percent;
said crosslinked polymer having a plurality of pendant groups, at least a portion of which are ionizable pendant groups that are more strongly hydrated than a carboxylic pendant group, such that said super-absorbent material is characterized by an equilibrium aqueous medium absorption of at least 8 g/g and a compressive failure strain of at least 25% when the super-absorbent material is fully swollen with said aqueous medium.
2. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of said ionizable pendant groups to non-ionizable pendant groups in said crosslinked polymer is greater than 85 percent.
3. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , wherein said microstructure is an open-cell microstructure.
4. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , wherein said crosslinking level ranges from 0.1 to 5 mol percent and said dry density is 0.15 g/cm 3 .
5. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , wherein the flood or spill control device is a diaper.
6. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , wherein the flood or spill control device is an absorbent pad.
7. The flood or spill control device of claim 1 , further comprising an aqueous liquid absorbed therein.