Charge Regulation of Polyelectrolyte Gels: Swelling Transition

Bin Zheng*, Yael Avni, David Andelman*, Rudolf Podgornik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the effects of charge-regulated acid/base equilibrium on the swelling of polyelectrolyte gels by considering a combination of the Poisson-Boltzmann theory and a two-site charge-regulation model based on the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. By exploring the volume change as a function of salt concentration for both nanogels and microgels, we identify conditions where the gel volume exhibits a discontinuous swelling transition. This transition is driven exclusively by the charge-regulation mechanism and is characterized by a closed-loop phase diagram. Our predictions can be tested experimentally for polypeptide gels.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5217-5224
Number of pages8
JournalMacromolecules
Volume56
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Jul 2023

Funding

FundersFunder number
NSFC-ISF21961142020
Scientific Research Starting Foundation of Wenzhou InstituteWIUCASQD2022016
Clore Israel Foundation
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Israel Science Foundation22203022, 3396/19, 213/19
Tel Aviv University
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

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