Photon Management through Virus‐Programmed Supramolecular Arrays

Abstract

nanoparticles naturally evolved and programmed to self-assemble into defined architectures and higher-order hierarchical assemblies. These properties together with the ease of manufacture through farming in plants or fermentation in cell culture, their chemical and structural stability in various environments (pH, temperature, solvent), as well as their defined structures make viruses an intriguing platform technology for diverse applications in biotechnology and medicine. Mammalian viruses have already been approved for gene therapy, e.g., Glybera (UniQure) and T-VEC (Amgen) and plant viruses are undergoing development for application as therapeutics [1] or imaging agents. [2] Furthermore, in the biotechnology sector, applications have focused on the integration of viral elements for light harvesting applications, [3][4][5] plasmonic metamaterials, [6] and energy and data storage systems. [7][8][9][10] In this study, we set out to investigate virus-programmed directed-assembly in the context of photon management applicable to photon extraction for LED lighting and photon capture for photovoltaics (PV). [11] The efficacy of photon management is dependent upon the materials composition and polarizability; and its mesoscale architecture [12] Photon extraction and capture efficiency is a complex function of the material's composition, its molecular structure at the nanoscale, and the overall organization spanning multiple length scales. The architecture of the material defines the performance; nanostructured features within the materials enhance the energy efficiency. Photon capturing materials are largely produced through lithographic, top-down, manufacturing schemes; however, there are limits to the smallest dimension achievable using this technology. To overcome these technological barriers, a bottom-up nanomanufacturing is pursued. Inspired by the self-programmed assembly of virus arrays in host cells resulting in iridescence of infected organisms, virus-programmed, nanostructured arrays are studied to pave the way for new design principles in photon management and biology-inspired materials science. Using the nanoparticles formed by plant viruses in combination with charged polymers (dendrimers), a bottom-up approach is illustrated to prepare a family of broadband, low-angular dependent antireflection mesoscale layered materialsfor potential application as photon management coatings. Measurement and theory demonstrate antireflectance and phototrapping properties of the virus-programmed assembly. This opens up new bioengineering principles for the nanomanufacture of coatings and films for use in LED lighting and photovoltaics. Virus-Based NanoparticlesNanoscale engineering is revolutionizing materials research and development. Viruses are playing a special role in these developments because they can function as prefabricated

Slow‐Release Formulation of Cowpea Mosaic Virus for In Situ Vaccine Delivery to Treat Ovarian Cancer

“…While the CPMV structure, like any proteinaceous macromolecule, is zwitterionic and patchy in nature, the electrostatic surface map and zeta potential measurement indicate that the net surface charge is negative (ζ = −12 mV), thus enabling coassembly with positively charged polymers . Figure A depicts the overall assembly scheme; the electrostatically driven assembly of the CPMV nanoparticles with the amine‐terminated generation 4 PAMAM dendrimer was investigated through dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements.…”

“…In addition to their use in drug delivery, dendrimers have been used in combination with oncolytic adenovirus in order to improve intratumoral accumulation and in virus–dendrimer assemblies as a method to create well‐controlled higher order structure on a nanoscale‐to‐mesoscale level . PAMAM dendrimers in particular are well‐understood, uniform, and commercially available; our lab has successively used them in the past to create virus–dendrimer hybrid materials for photon capture applications . The potential for in situ vaccination applications using virus–dendrimer hybrids however, has not yet been fully explored.…”