Analysis of Phase Transitions of Thermoresponsive Polymer Based on N-Vinylcaprolactam and 2-Hydroxyethyl Acrylate in Solutions from the Information Theory Point of View

Abstract

A new method for analyzing phase transitions in solutions of thermoresponsive polymers is proposed, based on determining the amount of information contained in the curve describing the phase transition. The method is based on the use of an analogy with the Nyquist-Shannon-Kotelnikov theorem, which allows us to bring the analysis of a continuous function to the analysis of its values at discrete points, as well as the results of studies of slowly changing signals from the point of view of modern information theory. This analogy allows us to determine the minimum number of parameters that describe the phase transition. The proposed method was tested using the example of phase transitions in solutions of thermoresponsive copolymers of N-vinylcaprolactam with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate of various compositions. The effectiveness of this method has been demonstrated; in particular, it has been shown that the number of parameters that describe the phase transition in this case does not exceed four. The possibilities of using the proposed method for constructing a classification of phase transitions in solutions of stimulus-sensitive polymers are discussed.