Synthesis of hydrogel nanocomposite based on graft copolymer of chitosan / itaconic acid and metal nanoparticles

In this study, a hydrogel based on graft copolymer of itaconic acid (IA) onto chitosan (CS) was synthesized. For this purpose, the reaction was performed in nitrogen atmosphere and ammonium persulfate (APS) was used as an initiator and N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent. In order to improve the water absorption, the effect of silver, silicon, and titanium oxide nanoparticles on hydrogel swelling was studied. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to confirm the structure and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) used to study the morphology of the compounds. The presence of nanoparticles in the synthesized nanocomposites was confirmed by EDAX analysis. The results of water absorption showed that the synthesized hydrogel with 0.4 g MBA has the highest water absorption (19.7 g / g) and the presence of nanoparticles in the hydrogel structure increases the water absorption and SiO2 has the greatest effect so that the water absorption of nanocomposites containing silicon, titanium oxide and silver was obtained as 29.18, 26.92 and 23.47 g/g, respectively.