Compression elastic modulus of neutral and protonated poly(N-vinylimidazole) hydrogels

The compression modulus of poly(N-vinylimidazole) (PVI) hydrogels synthesized by cross-linking polymerization in aqueous solution, was measured at room temperature in several related systems: i) just after polymerization, ii) swollen at equilibrium in deionized water, iii) swollen in HCl (aq) (pH=2.5), iv) swollen in HCl (pH=2.5) and 1 M NaCl (aq) solution and v) swollen in H₂SO₄ (pH=2.5) (aq) solution. Samples of the first and second groups are neutral whereas hydrogels of the other three groups are ionic because of protonation of basic imidazole groups. The experimental results were fitted with the Erman-Monnerie theory, applied to compression measurements for the first time, to determine the phantom modulus, f_ph*], and the parameter κ_G which measures the constraining role of entanglements on the fluctuations of chains between knots.