Advances in Composite Gels and Their Applications

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Chemistry and Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2024) | Viewed by 1561

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Interests: natural polymer; hydrogel; aerogel; cryogels; membrane; for sensor; water treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels fabricated from a wide range of hydrophilic polymers are three-dimensional, polymeric, crosslinked networks with large amounts of water. Hydrogels have been widely used in the fields of biological engineering, soft robots, flexible electronic devices and adhesives due to their good biocompatibility, stretchability and good water adsorption and retention. The strategy of composite hydrogels has been developed to endow a variety of properties due to their individual components. In particular, many advanced composite hydrogels with unique properties, such as self-healing, stimuli-responsive, excellent electrochemical properties as well as excellent mechanical properties, have been fabricated. Moreover, the applications of these composite gels include, but are not limited to, stimuli-responsive materials, water treatment materials, drug-release matrices, flexible supercapacitors and wearable electronics devices.

The Special Issue “Advances in Composite Gels and Their Applications” focuses on recent studies including the design of bio-based composite gel, polymer-nanofiber composite gels, polymer-inorganic composite gels and their applications as self-healing, shape memory, water treatment and flexible electronic devices. 

Dr. Qiyang Wang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • composite hydrogel
  • bio-based material
  • polymer-nanofiber composite gels
  • application

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 5014 KiB  
Article
Enhancement of Water Uptake in Composite Superabsorbents Based on Carboxymethyl Cellulose Through Porogen Incorporation and Lyophilization
by Maria S. Lavlinskaya and Andrey V. Sorokin
Gels 2024, 10(12), 797; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10120797 - 5 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1220
Abstract
Carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC)-based superabsorbents are promising materials for the development of agricultural matrices aimed at water management and slow-release fertilizer production. However, an increase in the CMC content tends to reduce their water-absorbing capacity. This study aims to develop a cost-effective [...] Read more.
Carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC)-based superabsorbents are promising materials for the development of agricultural matrices aimed at water management and slow-release fertilizer production. However, an increase in the CMC content tends to reduce their water-absorbing capacity. This study aims to develop a cost-effective method for producing eco-friendly superabsorbents with enhanced water-absorbing capacity by incorporating a porogen and employing lyophilization. Superabsorbents containing 10 wt% CMC (CMC-SAPs) were synthesized via free radical polymerization with the addition of 0, 5, or 10 wt% ammonium carbonate as a porogen, followed by lyophilization. The synthesized CMC-SAPs were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. The results revealed that CMC-SAPs prepared with the incorporation of a porogen and/or subjected to lyophilization exhibited well-developed surfaces featuring macropores and cavities. Incorporating 5 wt% ammonium carbonate as a porogen, followed by lyophilization, increased the equilibrium swelling ratio to 61%. This improvement was attributed to the enhanced surface morphology of the modified CMC-SAPs, which facilitated water molecule diffusion into the SAP matrix, as confirmed by open porosity measurements. This hypothesis was further supported by the diffusion coefficient values, which were higher for porogen-containing and lyophilized SAPs compared to unmodified samples. Moreover, the CMC-SAPs demonstrated good reusability. Thus, the combination of porogen incorporation and subsequent lyophilization represents a promising approach for enhancing the water uptake capacity of CMC-based composite superabsorbents for sustainable agricultural applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Composite Gels and Their Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop