Deuterium isotope effect on swelling process in aqueous polymer gels Original Research Article

The deuterium isotope effects on the swelling process of typical aqueous polymer gels (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel and polyacrylamide gel) have been investigated in this study. The swelling times of both the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel and the polyacrylamide gel in heavy water are longer than those in water. The deuterium isotope effect in the swelling process of gels is mainly arising from the higher viscosity in heavy water than in water. The additional deuterium isotope effect on the diffusion coefficient related to the swelling process should be due to the larger microscopic friction arising from the stronger polymer–solvent interaction in heavier water than in water. We also discuss in this paper the deuterium isotope effects on the size of the aqueous gels in the equilibrium state. Interestingly, the size in the equilibrium state of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel in heavy water is larger than that in water. In contrast to poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel, the size in the equilibrium state of polyacrylamide gel in heavy water is smaller than that in water.