Prediction of Swelling Behavior of AT-Isopropylacrylamide Hydrogels in Aqueous Solution of Sodium Chloride

In this paper, a model is presented to correlate and predict the swelling behavior of hydrogels in aqueous solutions of electrolytes. The model is a combination of VERS-model, 'phantom network' theory and 'free-volume' contribution. The VERS-model is used to calculate Gibbs excess energy; 'phantom network' theory to describe the elastic properties of polymer network, and 'free-volume' contribution to account for additional difference in the size of the species. To test the model, a series of N-isopropylacrylamide based hydrogels are synthesized by free radical polymerization in oxygen-free, deionized water at 25℃ under nitrogen atmosphere. Then, the degree of swelling of all investigated gels as well as the partition of the solute between the gel phase and the surrounding coexisting liquid phase are measured in aqueous solution of sodium chloride. The model test demonstrates that the swelling behavior correlated and predicted by the model agrees with the experimental data within the experimental uncertainty. The phase transition appeared in the experiment, and the influences of the total mass fraction of polymerizable materials ζgel as well as the mole fraction of the crosslinking agent yCR on the swelling behavior of IPAAm-gels can also be predicted correctly. All these show the potential of such model for correlation and prediction of the swelling behavior of hydrogels in aqueous solutions of electrolytes.

In this paper, a model is presented to correlate and predict the swelling behavior of hydrogels in aqueous solutions of electrolytes. The model is a combination of VERS-model, "phantom network" theory and "free-volume" contribution. The VERS-model is used to calculate Gibbs excess energy; "phantom network" theory to describe the elastic properties of polymer network, and "free-volume" contribution to account for additional difference in the size of the species. To test the model, a series of N-isopropylacrylamide based hydrogels are synthesized by free radical polymerization in oxygen-free, deionized water at 25~C under nitrogen atmosphere. Then, the degree of swelling of all investigated gels as well as the partition of the solute between the gel phase and the surrounding coexisting liquid phase are measured in aqueous solution of sodium chloride. The model test demonstrates that the swelling behavior correlated and predicted by the model agrees with the experimental data within the experimental uncertainty. The phase transition appeared in the experiment, and the influences of the total mass fraction of polymerizable materials ξgel as well as the mole fraction of the crosslinking agent YCR on the swelling behavior of IPAAm-gels can also be predicted correctly. All these show the potential of such model for correlation and prediction of the swelling behavior of hydrogels in aqueous solutions of electrolytes.