The entropic mechanism of water solvation by polymers

Mathematical analysis of isotherms of the equilibrium water absorption of p olymers displays their consistency with the equation for the theory of volu me-centred filling of micropores, regardless of the hydrophilicity of the p olymers. The structure of a microporous adsorbent, absent in the initial st ate, is formed in consequence of the reorganization of chains of a molecula r-chain sponge during absorption. Thus, some chain units combine to isolate water molecules as clusters, and another part is redistributed around the clusters as a fringe that stabilizes the system by increasing the configura tional entropy.