Swelling behavior of super-absorbent lipophilic polyelectrolytes based on poly(lauryl acrylate-co-styrene) comprised quaternary ammonium compounds with tetrafluoroborate anion in organic solvents

Abstract In recent years, organic pollutants have caused many environmental problems by polluting water and soil. Therefore, developing a low‐cost, high‐efficiency super‐absorbent remains a major challenge. Molecular super‐absorbents, due to their high ability to absorb organic solvents, have been considered to eliminate the risks of leakage and spillage of waste oils and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this paper, a new set of lipophilic polyelectrolyte organogels based on poly(lauryl acrylate‐co‐styrene) was synthesized using common radical reactions. The synthesized organogels absorbed a set of organic solvents with varied dielectric constants from hexane to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (with ε = 1.89‐46.5). Swelling percentage of these modified organogels in divers organic solvents becomes more than 100 times greater their dried weights and become up to 1600 times their dry dimension in CHCl3. By the expansion of polymer networks, even in low‐dielectric mediums (3 < ε < 10), ion separation occurs well and increases the ability of organogels to swell. In addition, due to their flexibility, the lipophilic polyelectrolyte organogels can easily release adsorbed solvents over time and can be reused. Therefore, these types of lipophilic polyelectrolyte organogels can be suitable absorbents for the absorption of organic pollutants.