Article,
Polyelectrolyte gels in poor solvent: Elastic moduli
Eur. Phys. J. E, 3 (3): 237--244 (2000)
Abstract
We study theoretically using scaling arguments the behavior of polyelectrolyte
gels in poor solvents. Following the classical picture of Katchalsky,
our approach is based on single chain elasticity but it accounts
for the recently proposed pearl-necklace structure of polyelectrolytes
in poor solvents. The elasticity both of gels at swelling equilibrium
and of partially swollen, non equilibrium, gels is studied when parameters
such as the ionic strength or the fraction of charged monomers are
varied. Our theory could be useful to interpret recent experiments
performed in Strasbourg that show that if identical gel samples are
swollen to the same extent at different pH the sample with the highest
charge has the lowest shear modulus.
