Sorption of distilled water in a cellulose-based hydrogel is presented. The examined system is based on a mixture of sodium salt of carboxymethylcellulose and hydroxyethylcellulose, crosslinked with divinilsulphone. The effect of chemical composition, manufacturing procedures, as well as desiccation protocols on equilibrium water uptake was investigated. Experimental results were interpreted in terms of crosslinking density, presence of ionic groups on the backbone, as well as macroscopic sample morphology detected by electron scanning microscopy. The reported results evidence the possibility to bias the process parameters in order to obtain hydrogels characterized by the desired water sorption levels.
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Esposito et al. (1996) studied this question.