Macroscopic Viscosity of Polymer Solutions from the Nanoscale Analysis

The effective viscosity in polymer solutions probed by diffusion of nanoparticles depends on their size. It is a well-defined function of the probe size, the radius of gyration, mesh size (correlation length), activation energy, and its parameters. As the nanoparticle’s size exceeds the radius of gyration of polymer coils, the effective viscosity approaches its macroscopic limiting value. Here, we apply the equation for effective viscosity in the macroscopic limit to the following polymer solutions: hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) in water, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in toluene, and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). We compare them with previous data for PEG/PEO in water and PDMS in ethyl acetate. We determine polymer parameters from the measurements of the macroscopic viscosity in a wide range of average polymer molecular weights (24–300 kg/mol), temperatures (283–303 K), and concentrations (0.005–1.000 g/cm3). In addition, the polydispersity of polymers is taken into account in the appropriate molecular weight averaging functions. We provide the model applicable for the study of nanoscale probe diffusion in polymer solutions and macroscopic characterization of different polymer materials via rheological measurements.