Abstract:A low cost superahsorbent resin, SS-g-P(AA/AM)/PGS, based on the natural sorghum straw (SS, particle size>180 mesh) as the source of cellulose, was prepared by grafting copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) and partly-neutralized acrylic acid (AA) on the chain of SS mixed with palygorskite (PGS). The copolymerization was carried out using N, N?methylene double acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking agent and potassium persulfate (KSB) as initiator. The morphology and structure were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The water-absorption capability as well as the thermal stability of the polymers were also characterized. The results show that the superabsorbent resin bears the maximum absorption amount of 273.0 g/g for distilled water and 66.7 g/g for tap water when the total adding amount of palygorskite and sorghum straw accounts for 19.8% in SS-g-P (AA/AM)/PGS. The dynamics behavior of the resin was also well investigated through the observation of swelling features, and was found that a Fickon and a non-Fickon diffusion model were accordance with the absorption of distilled water and tap water, respectively.