Structural investigations of a neutralized polyelectrolyte gel and an associating neutral hydrogel

Strongly charged polyacrylate hydrogels, however, display a qualitatively different scattering response. At low q a power law behavior is observed characteristic of a fractal surface. At intermediate q another component of osmotic origin is visible, which varies as q−1, which indicates that the presence of divalent cations favors linear alignment of the network chains. Acceptable agreement is found between the estimate of the thermal fluctuations deduced from SANS and the results derived from independent osmotic observations.