We measured the viscosity of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG 6000, 12,000, 20,000) in water using capillary electrophoresis and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy with nanoscopic probes of different diameters (from 1.7 to 114 nm). For a probe of diameter smaller than the radius of gyration of PEG (e.g. rhodamine B or lyzozyme) the measured nanoviscosity was orders of magnitude smaller than the macroviscosity. For sizes equal to (or larger than) the polymer radius of gyration, macroscopic value of viscosity was measured. A mathematical relation for macro and nanoviscosity was found as a function of PEG radius of gyration, R(g), correlation length in semi-dilute solution, xi, and probe size, R. For R < R(g), the nanoviscosity (normalized by water viscosity) is given by exp(b(R/xi)a), and for R > R(g), both nano and macroviscosity follow the same curve, exp(b(R/xi)a), where a and b are two constants close to unity. This mathematical relation was shown to equally well describe rhodamine (of size 1.7 nm) in PEG 20,000 and the macroviscosity of PEG 8,000,000, whose radius of gyration exceeds 200 nm. Additionally, for the smallest probes (rhodamine B and lysozyme) we have verified, using capillary electrophoresis and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, that the Stokes-Einstein (SE) relation holds, providing that we use a size-dependent viscosity in the formula. The SE relation is correct even in PEG solutions of very high viscosity (three orders of magnitude larger than that of water).

We propose a scaling equation describing transport properties (diffusion and viscosity) in the solutions of colloidal particles. We apply the equation to 23 different systems including colloids and proteins differing in size (range of diameters: 4 nm to 1 μm), and volume fractions (10(-3)-0.56). In solutions under study colloids/proteins interact via steric, hydrodynamic, van der Waals and/or electrostatic interactions. We implement contribution of those interactions into the scaling law. Finally we use our scaling law together with the literature values of the barrier for nucleation to predict crystal nucleation rates of hard-sphere like colloids. The resulting crystal nucleation rates agree with existing experimental data.

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