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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2012
We present the key assumptions and results of a newly developed theory inorder to account for the self-consistent cascade effects of counterioncondensation and volume collapse of polyeletrolyte gels. In the presenttheory, the role of the specificity and valency of counterions on the volumetransitions are also treated. These features and the fluctuations of monomerconcentration and local electrolyte charge density are included on top ofthe familiar features of the Flory-Huggins theory and the classical rubberelasticity theory in the previously used Flory-Dusek-Patterson-Tanaka theoryof polyelectrolyte gels. We have computed the swelling equilibria bysatisfying the multicomponent nature of the system and the Donnanequilibria. A few major effects are illustrated in terms of the dependenceof volume transition on the solvent quality, temperature, saltconcentration, valency and specificity of the counterion, and polymer chargedensity. Criteria for the emergence of a reentrant volume transition arealso derived.