(162y) Rapid Deposition of Nanocoatings and Wires from Aligned Tobacco Mosaic Virus

We developed a versatile single-step method for rapidly assembling tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) into uniform nanocoatings and macroscopically ordered fibers. The TMV fibers were assembled by pulling with a constant velocity a meniscus containing the virus suspension over a substrate. The deposition process allows for facile control of the fiber structure through the operational parameters of withdrawal speed and substrate wettability. Discrete, contiguous arrays of the TMV fibers were coated over centimeter length scales using only microliters of TMV suspension. Shear-induced alignment is largely responsible for the long-range organization during the process of coating with these viscous TMV suspensions. A second important effect stems from dewetting at the three-phase contact line upon meniscus withdrawal. The ability to precisely control the wire structure of the bio-scaffold allowed for the fabrication of architectures with advanced chemical and physical functionality. As an example, we developed a procedure where the TMV fibers were conjugated to Au particles followed by Ag enhancement for metal deposition. This allowed for converting the virus fibers into anisotropically conductive arrays of long wires.