Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
Langmuir. 2010 May 18;26(10):7516-22. doi: 10.1021/la904324h.
Biological supramolecules offer attractive templates for nanoparticle synthesis and nanodevice fabrication because of their precise size and shape. Viruses in particular have gained significant attention in nanodevice fabrication for applications such as nanoelectronics, batteries, catalysis, and sensing. However, the performance range of these viral-nanoparticle complexes is not well known because of the lack of fundamental studies on their properties. In this work, we employ in situ grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) to examine the thermal stability of viral-nanoparticle complexes composed of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and palladium nanoparticles. Specifically, we show that the stability of the Pd nanoparticles on TMV is significantly enhanced as compared to that of particles on the solid substrate surface. Furthermore, we show that the agglomeration of Pd nanoparticles and the degradation of the TMV templates are coupled and occur simultaneously. These results demonstrate a potent methodology toward the in situ analysis of subtle changes in viral-nanoparticle complexes in dynamic environments. We envision that the results and methodology demonstrated in this study could be applied to better understand the properties and dynamic behaviors of organic-inorganic hybrid materials and nanodevices in various applications.
生物超分子因其精确的尺寸和形状，为纳米粒子合成和纳米器件制造提供了有吸引力的模板。特别是病毒，由于缺乏对其性质的基础研究，在纳米器件制造中的应用，如纳米电子学、电池、催化和传感等领域引起了广泛关注。然而，这些病毒-纳米粒子复合物的性能范围尚不清楚。在这项工作中，我们采用原位掠入射小角 X 射线散射（GISAXS）研究了由烟草花叶病毒（TMV）和钯纳米粒子组成的病毒-纳米粒子复合物的热稳定性。具体来说，我们表明与在固体基底表面上的颗粒相比，TMV 上的 Pd 纳米颗粒的稳定性显著增强。此外，我们表明 Pd 纳米颗粒的聚集和 TMV 模板的降解是耦合的，并且同时发生。这些结果证明了一种在动态环境中对病毒-纳米粒子复合物的细微变化进行原位分析的有效方法。我们设想，本研究中展示的结果和方法可以应用于更好地理解各种应用中有机-无机杂化材料和纳米器件的性质和动态行为。
