CAP has developed technology whereby synthetic and natural water absorbing materials are made macroporous, in which state they are able to adsorb water or other liquids rapidly and (in some cases) to swell to many times their initial size. When in the dried state the materials can take up a compact form. When exposed to water they adsorb the liquid rapidly to form a swollen mass that is typically ~3 - 5 times the original volume; the additional volume being entirely due to the adsorbed water. Features of the technology are:
- The materials are entirely non-toxic, cheap and in common use in environmental,food, personal hygiene and medical applications.
- The manufacturing process is cheap, easily scaleable and can be carried out with simple equipment.
- The absorption process is rapid, reproducible and reversible over multiple liquid absorption cycles.
- Swelling can be uni-axial or in two or three dimensions.
- Additives can be incorporated in the materials and either retained or released following liquid adsorption.
- The structuring technology can be equally well applied to make materials of different sizes, shapes and chemistries.
To illustrate the potential of the technology for uptake of water the following images show the CAP-structured inorganic particle containing materials in their pre- and post-(uni-axially) swollen state. CAP is pursuing the application of its core technology and expertise in this area in areas as diverse as chromatography, purification, absorbents, catalysts and novel food products.  Cambridge Applied Polymers - Expanding Polymer Samples |
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