Superabsorbent, High Porosity, PAMPS-Based Hydrogels through Emulsion Templating

Swell! Superabsorbent, mechanically robust, high-porosity hydrogels based on poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) have been successfully synthesized by templating within high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). These hydrogel polyHIPEs (HG-PHs) exhibit unusually high uptakes of water and of artificial urine through structure- and crosslinking-dependent hydrogel-swelling-driven void expansion. An HG-PH with 3.1 mmol g^-1 of highly accessible sulfonic acid groups exhibits a 7 meq NaOH ion exchange capacity per gram polymer and rapid dye absorption. The highly swollen HG-PHs do not fail at compressive strains of up to 60%, they retain water and recover their shapes upon the removal of stress. Unusually, the dry hydrogels have relatively high compressive moduli and achieve relatively high stresses at 70% strain.