Investigation of swelling ratio, mechanical stability and cationic dyeadsorption of PVA/Alginate-based hydrogel beads

This study investigates the influence of varying polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to alginate ratio on thephysicochemical and mechanical properties of hydrogel beads for potential applications in watertreatment. The results demonstrate that increasing PVA content enhances both swelling capacity andmechanical stability. The hydrophilic -OH groups in PVA significantly augment water retention toover ۵۰۰%, rendering PVA-alginate hydrogels promising candidates for water absorption purposes.Mechanical stability differs across samples: fully crosslinked alginate in P۰۱A exhibits robuststability, while P۱۱A benefits from enhanced strength through chain entanglement. The presence ofhighly deprotonated carboxyl groups in alginate at pH ۱۰ significantly improved the removalpercentage of MB to ۸۵% (methylene blue) compared to pH ۴ (۲۲.۴%) and pH ۷ (۱۸.۳%). Thesefindings suggest that superabsorbent hydrogel beads based on a blend of PVA and alginate could bedesigned and manipulated for efficient cationic dye adsorption.

کلیدواژه ها:

Alginate ، PVA ، Hydrogel beads ، Dye removal ، Water treatment