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\begin{document} |
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\title{Elucidation of Structural Changes in an Osmotically Swollen Polyacrylate Hydrogel} |
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\author{Matthew A. Meineke\\ |
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Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry\\ University of Notre Dame\\ |
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Notre Dame, Indiana 46556} |
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\date{\today} |
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\maketitle |
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\section{Proposal Summary} |
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It has been shown that nerve fibers exhibit discontinuous volume |
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changes upon excitation.\cite{Tasaki82} In order to elucidate this |
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process, researchers have examined systems of biologically significant |
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polymer gels in physiologically reasonable salt |
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solutions.\cite{Tasaki92,Horkay2000} Specifically, polyacrylate, a |
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cross-linked ionic gel where each monomer unit contains a negative |
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charge, was studied. It has been found that varying the ratio of |
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divalent to monovalent salt cations in a solution will induce a |
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discontinuous volume change in the ionic polymer gel.\cite{Horkay2000} |
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However, the actual mechanism of the volume change is still not clear. |
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I propose to simulate the system of Horkay |
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\emph{et al}.\cite{Horkay2000} using Gibbs Monte Carlo techniques in |
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order to better understand the mechanism of the volume change. In |
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Gibbs Monte Carlo simulations, one simulates a system in the ${\mu}PT$ |
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ensemble. The simulation entails two systems that can exchange |
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particles and volume to reach an equilibrium. During the simulation, |
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water and the mobile ions will be exchanged between a bulk solution |
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resivoir and the ionic polymer gel system. |
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\bibliographystyle{achemso} |
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\bibliography{original_proposal} |
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\end{document} |
