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A large number of flexible polyelectrolytes can form a three-dimensional network by chemical or physical crosslinks. After immersed in the solution, the network imbibes the solvent and ions, resulting in a polyelectrolyte gel. In this study, we express the condition of equlibrium between the gel and the solution as a variational statement and the finite element method is employed to clarify the effect of mechanical and chemical constraints on swelling of gel.

polyelectrolyte gel, swelling, FEM