Modeling the Phase Transition in Hydrophobic Weak Polyelectrolyte Gels under Compression

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F23%3A10470092" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/23:10470092 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=HmvbpdoNyo" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=HmvbpdoNyo</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/gels9030259" target="_blank" >10.3390/gels9030259</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Modeling the Phase Transition in Hydrophobic Weak Polyelectrolyte Gels under Compression

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

One of the emerging water desalination techniques relies on the compression of a polyelectrolyte gel. The pressures needed reach tens of bars, which are too high for many applications, damage the gel and prevent its reuse. Here, we study the process by means of coarse-grained simulations of hydrophobic weak polyelectrolyte gels and show that the necessary pressures can be lowered to only a few bars. We show that the dependence of applied pressure on the gel density contains a plateau indicating a phase separation. The phase separation was also confirmed by an analytical mean-field theory. The results of our study show that changes in the pH or salinity can induce the phase transition in the gel. We also found that ionization of the gel enhances its ion capacity, whereas increasing the gel hydrophobicity lowers the pressure required for gel compression. Therefore, combining both strategies enables the optimization of polyelectrolyte gel compression for water desalination purposes.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Modeling the Phase Transition in Hydrophobic Weak Polyelectrolyte Gels under Compression

Popis výsledku anglicky

One of the emerging water desalination techniques relies on the compression of a polyelectrolyte gel. The pressures needed reach tens of bars, which are too high for many applications, damage the gel and prevent its reuse. Here, we study the process by means of coarse-grained simulations of hydrophobic weak polyelectrolyte gels and show that the necessary pressures can be lowered to only a few bars. We show that the dependence of applied pressure on the gel density contains a plateau indicating a phase separation. The phase separation was also confirmed by an analytical mean-field theory. The results of our study show that changes in the pH or salinity can induce the phase transition in the gel. We also found that ionization of the gel enhances its ion capacity, whereas increasing the gel hydrophobicity lowers the pressure required for gel compression. Therefore, combining both strategies enables the optimization of polyelectrolyte gel compression for water desalination purposes.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10404 - Polymer science

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GJ19-17847Y" target="_blank" >GJ19-17847Y: Vývoj účinných metod odsolování pomocí polyelektrolytových hydrogelů</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2023

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Gels

ISSN

2310-2861

e-ISSN

2310-2861

Svazek periodika

9

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

3

Stát vydavatele periodika

CH - Švýcarská konfederace

Počet stran výsledku

15

Strana od-do

259

Kód UT WoS článku

000960159600001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85151486776