Polyacrylic acid (PAA) is one of the most exciting hydrophilic polymers for water control and conservation; however, it suffers from poor mechanical properties during the agricultural applications. For that purpose a series of PAA‐based multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) membranes have synthesized via a grafting process of MWCNTs using chitosan (CS) polymer as a binder. The fabricated membranes have spectroscopically characterized by different techniques to confirm the composite structure. The MWCNTs content into the PAA membranes has played a pronounced effect on water absorptivity, swelling behavior, and mechanical properties. PAA membrane has showed a fourfold increase in yield‐stress by the addition of 3 wt% PAA/CS/MWCNTs, while preserving a 91% of water absorptivity of PAA membrane. The soil applications of the PAA/CS/MWCNTs membranes have showed remarkable improvements in soil moisture content compared to the PAA membrane. This study provides a promising pathway for future field applications, especially in arid lands.

中文翻译：

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聚丙烯酸酯接枝的壳聚糖功能化碳纳米管的机械稳定膜，在沙质土壤中具有出色的储水能力

聚丙烯酸（PAA）是用于水控制和保存的最令人兴奋的亲水性聚合物之一；但是，在农业应用中其机械性能差。为此，使用壳聚糖（CS）聚合物作为粘合剂，通过MWCNT的接枝工艺合成了一系列基于PAA的多壁碳纳米管（MWCNT）膜。所制造的膜已通过不同技术在光谱上进行了表征，以确认复合结构。PAA膜中的MWCNTs含量对吸水率，溶胀行为和机械性能产生了显着影响。通过添加3 wt％的PAA / CS / MWCNT，PAA膜的屈服应力提高了四倍，同时保留了91％的PAA膜的吸水率。与PAA膜相比，PAA / CS / MWCNTs膜在土壤中的应用显示出土壤水分含量的显着改善。这项研究为未来的田间应用，特别是在干旱地区提供了有希望的途径。