Tuning the demixing of colloid–polymer systems through the dispersing solvent

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We report measurements on fluid–fluid phase separation in a colloid–polymer mixture bymeans of confocal scanning laser microscopy and we show that we can access the variouscoarsening regimes by tuning the properties of the solvent. By increasing the viscosity ofthe solvent we are able to access the diffusive hydrodynamic regime of spinodaldecomposition. By matching the density of the solvent and colloids we are able to growstructures to large length scales before they are destroyed by buoyancy forces. Tuning thesolvent’s density furthermore gives control over which phase flows up and down, illustratingthe flexibility of this particular system.