Charge controlled swelling of microgel particles

The swelling of cationic microgel particles has been studied experimentally, in the weak screening regime. The solution pH was selected as the external variable triggering the swelling, which was followed by dynamic light scattering. The particle charge was determined by conductometric and potentiometric titrations, leading to a good correlation between the charge of the microgel network and its size. This leads to the conclusion that the swelling is mainly charge controlled. The Flory-Huggins thermodynamic theory for gels, including a term accounting for the counterion distribution within the microgel, has been used to interpret the experimental data. The osmotic term associated with the counterions explains fairly well the observed behavior, and additional contributions due to the internal microgel microscopic structure are not necessary, as Pincus et al. have suggested.