Abstract
Potato virus A (PVA) is a plant-infecting RNA virus that produces flexible particles with a high aspect ratio. PVA has been investigated extensively for its infection biology, however, its potential to serve as a nanopatterning platform remains unexplored. Here, we study the liquid crystal and interfacial self-assembly behavior of PVA particles. Furthermore, we generate nanopatterned surfaces using self-assembled PVA particles through three different coating techniques: drop-casting, drop-top deposition and flow-coating. The liquid crystal phase of PVA solution visualized by polarized optical microscopy revealed a chiral nematic phase in water, while in pH 8 buffer it produced a nematic phase. This allowed us to produce thin films with either randomly or anisotropically oriented cylindrical nanopatterns using drop-top and flow-coating methods. Overall, this study explores the self-assembly process of PVA in different conditions, establishing a starting point for PVA self-assembly research and contributing a virus-assisted fabrication technique for nanopatterned surfaces.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Virology |
| Volume | 578 |
| Pages (from-to) | 103-110 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 0042-6822 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Fields of Science
- 216 Materials engineering
- Potato virus A Self-assembly Virus nanoparticles Bio-templates Liquid crystal Nanopatterning