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. Highly porous, emulsion‐templated, superabsorbent poly(2‐acrylamido‐2‐methyl‐1‐propanesulfonic acid) hydrogel exhibits unusually high uptakes of water and artificial urine through hydrogel‐swelling‐driven void expansion. The swollen hydrogels do not fail at compressive strains of up to 60%, retaining water and recovering their shapes. Unusually, the dry hydrogels have relatively high compressive moduli and are remarkably robust.