3.1.1. Yield of the Reaction

Table 3 lists the reaction yields, water absorption, and effective cross-link density of the cross-linked structure of the 12 synthesized hydrogels.

The reaction yields of only four synthesized materials exceeded 90%: Hy06 > Hy09 > Hy12 > Hy03. All four hydrogels were prepared without the addition of CNF. Likewise, it can be observed that when the CNF concentration increased in the reactive mixture, the efficiency of the reaction decreased from approximately 30%, when 1% w w−<sup>1</sup> CNF was added to the mixture, to approximately 17%, when 2% w w−<sup>1</sup> CNF was added to the mixture. This indicated that CNF had an inhibitory effect on the growth of polymers through free-radical reactions (see Table 3).
