Synthesis and Characterization of Superabsorbent Polymer based on Carboxymethyl Cellulose, Breadfruit Starch and Aluminum Sulfate

Superabsorbent polymer is a polymeric material that able to absorb a large amount of water. The purpose of this study is to synthesize and measure water absorption capacity and study the crosslinking process of superabsorbent-aluminum-breadfruit starch (Al-CMC-BS). The preparation of Al-CMC-BS was done in two steps. The first step was reacting CMC with aluminum sulfate so that the aluminum-carboxymethyl cellulose (Al-CMC) film was produced and then mashed into powder. Al-CMC powder was dissolved in water and reacted with BS solution to obtain Al-CMC-BS. Furthermore, Al-CMC-BS produced was determined their water absorption capacity, morphology with SEM, functional group with FTIR and transition glass temperature with DSC. The results showed that the absorption capacity of water from AlCMC-BS reached 2,444.44 %. SEM analysis shows the formation of a more homogeneous Al-CMC-BS mixture than before mixing. The FTIR spectrum shows the formation of crosslink between Al-CMC and BS. DSC analysis shows that there is one Tg value of Al-CMC-BS that is on 95.85 ̊C, which is in between Tg of BS on 118.72 ̊C and Tg of CMC on 94.23 ̊C. This shows that the mixture of Al, CMC and BS is