The water absorbency (WA) of synthesized beads was deter- mined by immersing of dried beads (∼0.1 g) in buffered solutions (phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4): 8 g NaCl, 0.2 g KCl, 1.44 Na2 HPO4 , 0.24 KH2 PO4 , 1 L H2 O; and hydrochloric acid buffer solu- tion (pH 1.2): 0.15 M HCl, 0.05 M KCl) and allowed to soak at room temperature for 24 h. Then, they were removed from buffers, blot- ted with filter paper to remove surface water, weighed and the water absorbency was calculated using the following equation