화학공학소재연구정보센터
Macromolecules, Vol.32, No.1, 199-209, 1999
Conformational free energy of lattice polyelectrolytes with fixed end points. 2. The swelling behavior of a permanent network of lattice polyelectrolytes
"Lattice polyelectrolytes" are conceived as self-avoiding walks on a cubic lattice, bearing monovalent, equidistantly fixed, discrete charges, located at vertexes of the lattice, along the followed path. The electrostatic interactions between these charges are described by a Debye-Huckel potential. Recently (part 1: Barenbrug, Th. M. A. O. M.; Smit, J. A. M.; Bedeaux, D. Macromolecules 1997, 30, 605) we obtained the conformational free energy of a single lattice polyelectrolyte with fixed end points, using Monte Carlo calculations. Here (part 2) we exploit this result to develop a model in which the charged lattice chains are incorporated in a network with tetrafunctional cross-links. This network may serve as a model for polyelectrolyte gels, in particular with respect to their swelling properties as a function of charge and salt content. The salt-depending swelling of a real gel is semiquantitatively predicted.