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Letter

Nature Materials 6, 429–433 (1 June 2007) | doi:10.1038/nmat1904

Lipophilic polyelectrolyte gels as super-absorbent polymers for nonpolar organic solvents

Toshikazu Ono , Takahiro Sugimoto , Seiji Shinkai & Kazuki Sada

Polyelectrolyte gels that are known as super-absorbent polymers swell and absorb water up to several hundred times their dried weights and have become ubiquitous and indispensable materials in many applications. Their superior swelling abilities originate from the electrostatic repulsion between the charges on the polymer chains and the osmotic imbalance between the interior and exterior of the gels.