Modeling and Simulations of Equilibrium of Environmentally Sensitive Hydrogels

Abstract

Environmental-sensitive hydrogels are increasingly attracting the attention of researchers all over the world due to their remarkable behaviors of the volume phase transition, which causes swelling, shrinking and/or bending deformation. The hydrogel is responsive to small changes of the local environmental conditions. However, most studies have so far been experimental-based. The objective of this thesis is thus to develop multiphysics models, termed the Multi-Effect-Coupling Glucose-Stimulus (MECglu) model, the Multi-Effect-Coupling pH-Electric-Stimulus (MECpHe) model, and the refined Multi-Effect-Coupling Electric-Stimulus (rMECe) model, with the capability of predicting the material properties and behavior of hydrogels responding to three kinds of environmental stimuli, namely the externally applied electric field, the pH-electric coupled stimuli and the blood glucose concentration of the surrounding solution.