@article{36c6a9aa79d846ef94061516e46b6fa1,
title = "Electric field assisted self-assembly of viruses into colored thin films",
abstract = "Filamentous viruses called M13 bacteriophages are promising materials for devices with thin film coatings because phages are functionalizable, and they can self-assemble into smectic helicoidal nanofilament structures. However, the existing “pulling” approach to align the nanofilaments is slow and limits potential commercialization of this technology. This study uses an applied electric field to rapidly align the nanostructures in a fixed droplet. The electric field reduces pinning of the three-phase contact line, allowing it to recede at a constant rate. Atomic force microscopy reveals that the resulting aligned structures resemble those produced via the pulling method. The field-assisted alignment results in concentric color bands quantified with image analysis of red, green, and blue line profiles. The alignment technique shown here could reduce self-assembly time from hours to minutes and lend itself to scalable manufacturing techniques such as inkjet printing.",
keywords = "Colorimetric film, Electric field, Electrowetting, M13 bacteriophage, Nanobiomaterial, Self-assembly",
author = "Tronolone, {James J.} and Michael Orrill and Wonbin Song and Kim, {Hyun Soo} and Lee, {Byung Yang} and Saniya Leblanc",
note = "Funding Information: Funding: This work was made possible by funding from the Simon Lee Korea University-George Washington University grant, the GWU Office of the Vice President for Research Cross Disciplinary Research Fund, the GWU School of Engineering and Applied Science{\textquoteright}s Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research, the GWU Charles Gilmore Internship in Materials Science, and the Nanotechnology Fellows Program supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF Award EEC-1446001. Funding Information: This work was made possible by funding from the Simon Lee Korea University-George Washington University grant, the GWU Office of the Vice President for Research Cross Disciplinary Research Fund, the GWU School of Engineering and Applied Science?s Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research, the GWU Charles Gilmore Internship in Materials Science, and the Nanotechnology Fellows Program supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF Award EEC-1446001. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",
year = "2019",
month = sep,
doi = "10.3390/nano9091310",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
journal = "Nanomaterials",
issn = "2079-4991",
publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",
number = "9",
}