Quaternary ammonium chitosan-g-poly(acrylic add-co-acrylamide) superabsorbent hydrogels were successfully synthesized from acrylic add (AA), acrylamide (AM) and quaternary ammonium chitosan with high substitution degree. They were prepared using potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker respectively. The structure and morphology of the superabsorbent hydrogel were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The water absorbency and antibacterial activities of the superabsorbent hydrogels against Escherichia coil (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were investigated. The introduction of quaternary ammonium chitosan made the antibacterial activity improve. The crosslinker, initiator and AM contents had certain influences on the water absorbency as well as the antibacterial activity against E. coli. The AM could enhance the hydrogel strength apparently. In addition, the AM (the content was 10 wt%) could increase the water absorbency in 0.9 wt% NaCl solution obviously. The superabsorbent hydrogel also had pH sensitive property. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.