During the past few years we been extensively studying the swelling dynamics of polymer hydrogels, for use as a novel type of changeable focal length lens. It is anticipated that the “volume phase transition”, inherent to all polymer hydrogels, can be utilised to create a lens with multiple focal distances. While hydrogel swelling can be triggered by a wide variety of stimuli, for the present purposes, electrical stimulation was seen as the optimum choice. Using MATLAB, a finite element model (FEM) was developed that could describe the swelling of a poly (acrylic acid) hydrogel under the influence of an applied electric field. The model is highly customisable, and essentially all results are available to the end user. The modular design of the model also permits each piece of the model to be improved individually, and then recombined back into the overall model. To verify this FEM model, gel swelling experiments were conducted on poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel disks under the influence of an externally-applied DC source. The deformation of the upper surface of the gels was recorded, and then compared to the theoretically predicted deformation. It must be stressed that this is the first version of this model, and it was not expected that the model would perfectly predict the swelling of the polymer hydrogel. However, experimental validation was necessary at this stage to identify parts of the model that required further improvement.

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1. Transparent electroactive films for optical applications