| Abstract: | A simple theory of swelling of microporous Swiss‐cheese polyelectrolyte gels (i. e., polyelectrolyte gels containing water voids) in the solution of 1–1 low‐molecular‐weight salt is developed. Due to the Donnan effect the overall concentration of salt within porous Swiss‐cheese gel can be significantly higher than that within the corresponding homogeneous gel due to the effective absorption of salt by the embedded voids. The degree of this absorption increases with the increase of average size of the voids and of their concentration. In the case of relatively large water voids with radii of about few μm the salt concentration within the water voids is approximately equal to that in the external solution, while the salt concentration in the polymer matrix can be much lower. It is thought that polyelectrolyte Swiss‐cheese gels are promising for use as suitable media for microreactors for nanotechnology. |
