Partial Heterodyne Method to Study Spatial-Inhomogeneity in Acrylamide-co-Sodium Acrylate Hydrogel

Abstract

The dynamics of Acrylamide-co-Sodium acrylate hydrogels with the variation in sodium acrylate (SA) content was investigated by partial heterodyne approach using dynamic light scattering. With the addition of hydrophilic sodium acrylate into the polyacrylamide matrix, both fluctuating and non-fluctuating components decreased. Also the spatial inhomogeneities in the network was greatly suppressed as a result of rise in SA concentration. Cooperative diffusion coefficient decreased which may be attributed as the decrease in crosslinking efficiency of crosslinker with the addition of sodium acrylate.