Diffusivity of solvent in a polymer solution—expansive free volume effect

The concentration dependency of the diffusivity of a solvent in a polymer solution is derived on the basis of a free volume theory. Applying a molecular kinetics approach, the Fujita-Doolittle equation is modified. The result of numerical simulation reveals that the diffusivity of solvent in a polymer solution depends largely on both the polymer chain structure and its concentration. The applicability of the analytical expression derived is justified by fitting the experimental data for n-alkyl acetate-(poly-methyl acrylate) polymer solutions in the literature.