Water Uptake Kinetics and Control Release of Agrochemical Fertilizers from Nanoclay-Assisted Semi-interpenetrating Sodium Acrylate-Based Hydrogel

Semi-interpenetrating composite hydrogels composed of poly(acrylic acid-co-sodium acrylate)/polyethylene glycol for the controlled release of fertilizers were synthesized by using nano-phyllosilicate. Hydrogel was characterized by infrared spectral analysis (Fourier transform infrared), X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The cross-link density (ρ_c), average molecular weight between cross-links (M_c), and the mesh size of the network (ς) were also determined. The degree of neutralization of acrylic acid component has a positive impact in the swelling behavior of hydrogel, which was investigated through its swelling study and pH-oscillatory behavior. The dependency of synthesis parameters, pH and ionic strength on swelling characteristics were investigated. The type of the diffusion phenomena was investigated by calculating various kinetic parameters such as the diffusion coefficient, diffusion rate constant, swelling exponents, etc. The swelling ratio with varying synthetic parameters was recorded to investigate fourth-order factorial model. The model gives the idea of the effect of the independent parameters on the swelling ratio.