Synthesis and investigation of properties of hydrogel composites containing kaolin and sodium humate

Hydrogels are water-insoluble swellable materials with a three-dimensional network structure and have the ability to absorb large amounts of water. Depending on the conditions of their environment temperature, pH, solvent composition due to their ability to respond to certain stimuli such as these materials may be used in many fields. The first stage of this thesis used acrylamide (AAm), crotonic acid (CA), methacrylic acid (MA), kaolin (K), sodium humate (NaH), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the synthesis of hydrogels. The second stage of the thesis modified AAm based hydrogels with gelatin methacrylate (GM). The hydrogels obtained were characterized by FTIR, XRD, and SEM analysis. TGA results showed that the lowest char percentage belonged to CA-NaH-K-PEG and MA-NaH-K-PEG hydrogels with 10.5%. In swelling tests, the highest equilibrium swelling percentage (ES%) was obtained from the hydrogel MA-NaH-K-PVA with 37089% in pure water. Hydrogels were determined to be pH sensitive. MA-NaH-K-PVA was used as an adsorbent in the removal of hydrogel methylene blue from aqueous solutions. The adsorption capacity was determined as 833.33 mg/g by applying Taguchi optimization method in adsorption studies. NaH-A-K-PEG hydrogel synthesized in the second step with Ultra saf water at a high ES% value of 1315%. It was determined that A-GM-NaH-K-PEG hydrogel reached the highest ES% value in PBS and DMEM + 10% FBS solution. It was reached that A-GM-K hydrogel has the highest mechanical strength (42.8 kPa). Interactions of C2C12 cells with hydrogels were examined by optical and fluorescence microscopes.