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Calcium induced volume transition in polyelectrolyte gels
Author(s) -
Horkay Ferenc,
Basser Peter J.,
Hecht AnneMarie,
Geissler Erik
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200351003
Subject(s) - sodium polyacrylate , polyelectrolyte , thermodynamics , calcium , osmotic pressure , volume (thermodynamics) , materials science , exponent , power law , sodium , chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , raw material , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , statistics , mathematics
Abstract The osmotic properties and the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) behaviour of fully neutralized sodium polyacrylate gels are investigated in the presence of calcium ions. Analysis of the SANS response displays three characteristic length scales, two of which are of thermodynamic origin, while the third, associated with the frozen‐in structural inhomogeneities, is static. The SANS results are consistent with direct osmotic observations which indicate that the thermodynamic properties cannot be adequately described by a single correlation length. The concentration dependence of the osmotic pressure displays a power law behaviour with an exponent that decreases with increasing calcium concentration.