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A theory of hydrogel mechanics that couples swelling and external flow.

Zelai XuPengtao YueJames J Feng
Published in: Soft matter (2024)
Two aspects of hydrogel mechanics have been studied separately in the past. The first is the swelling and deswelling of gels in a quiescent solvent bath triggered by an environmental stimulus such as a change in temperature or pH, and the second is the solvent flow around and into a gel domain, driven by an external pressure gradient or moving boundary. The former neglects convection due to external flow, whereas the latter neglects solvent diffusion driven by a gradient in chemical potential. Motivated by engineering and biomedical applications where both aspects coexist and potentially interact with each other, this work presents a poroelasticity model that integrates these two aspects into a single framework, and demonstrates how the coupling between the two gives rise to novel physics in relatively simple one-dimensional and two-dimensional flows.
Keyphrases
  • ionic liquid
  • drug delivery
  • hyaluronic acid
  • wound healing
  • solar cells
  • human health
  • tissue engineering
  • room temperature
  • solid state