Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.
Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology, Saitama 332-0012, Japan.
Viruses. 2018 Nov 2;10(11):608. doi: 10.3390/v10110608.
Polymers are generally considered thermal insulators because the amorphous arrangement of the polymeric chains reduces the mean free path of heat-conducting phonons. Recent studies reveal that individual chains of polymers with oriented structures could have high thermal conductivity, because such stretched polymeric chains effectively conduct phonons through polymeric covalent bonds. Previously, we have found that the liquid crystalline assembly composed of one of the filamentous viruses, M13 bacteriophages (M13 phages), shows high thermal diffusivity even though the assembly is based on non-covalent bonds. Despite such potential applicability of biopolymeric assemblies as thermal conductive materials, stability against heating has rarely been investigated. Herein, we demonstrate the maintenance of high thermal diffusivity in smectic liquid crystalline-oriented M13 phage-based assemblies after high temperature (150 °C) treatment. The liquid crystalline orientation of the M13 phage assemblies plays an important role in the stability against heating processes. Our results provide insight into the future use of biomolecular assemblies for reliable thermal conductive materials.
聚合物通常被认为是热绝缘体，因为聚合物链的无定形排列降低了导热声子的平均自由程。最近的研究表明，具有取向结构的聚合物单链可能具有高热导率，因为这种拉伸的聚合物链可以通过聚合物共价键有效地传导声子。在此之前，我们发现由一种丝状病毒 M13 噬菌体（M13 噬菌体）组成的液晶组装体尽管基于非共价键，但其热扩散率却很高。尽管生物聚合组装体具有作为导热材料的潜在适用性，但很少研究其对加热的稳定性。在此，我们证明了在高温（150°C）处理后，层状液晶取向的 M13 噬菌体组装体仍保持高热扩散率。M13 噬菌体组装体的液晶取向对加热过程的稳定性起着重要作用。我们的结果为未来将生物分子组装体用作可靠的导热材料提供了新的见解。
