A lattice molecular thermodynamic model for thermo-sensitive random copolymer hydrogels

Recent advances in polymer chemistry have enabled the design of a wide range of copolymer hydrogels consisting of stimulus-responsive blocks and other functional blocks used in many fields. In this work, a new molecular thermodynamic model is developed based on our previous work for the swelling behavior of temperature-sensitive random copolymer hydrogels. The influences of polymer species, the molar fraction f, and the cross-linking degree on the swelling behaviors of copolymer hydrogels are investigated. The calculated swelling curves of PNIPAm-ENAG copolymer hydrogels have been compared with the corresponding experimental results. It is shown that the results obtained by model are quite consistent with the experimental data, and this indicates the validity of our model.