Large scale afforestation is one of the most effective countermeasures against global warming. Superabsorbent hydrogel materials are considered to work well for the survival of planted trees in arid land and semiarid lands. Superabsorbent materials for water absorptions are commonly made by synthetic chemical methods which are relatively stable and hard to be degraded. So we aimed to synthesize biodegradable water absorbent material suitable for the large scale afforestation. In this research study, an acrylic acid monomer was grafted onto chitosan biomolecules using cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator and N,N’-Methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent. We use chitosan as base material for the synthesis of novel biodegradable water absorbent material. The grafted polymer onto the chitosan molecules was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, 13C Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Finally the water retention capacity and high heat resistance of biopolymer material was evaluated by Psychometer and DSC studies.
