Electrospinning Fabrication, Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Rod-Like Virus-Based Composite Nanofibers

Author(s)

Laying Wu, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Jianfeng Zang, University of South Carolina - Columbia
L. Andrew Lee, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Zhongwei Niu, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Gary C. Horvatha, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Vaughn Braxtona, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Arief C. Wibowo, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Michael A. Bruckman, University of South Carolina - Columbia
Soumitra Ghoshroy, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Hans-Conrad zur Loye, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Xiaodong Li, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Qian Wang, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow

Document Type

Article

Subject Area(s)

Materials Chemistry

Abstract

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was electrospun with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) into continuous TMV–PVA composite nanofibers to form a biodegradable nonwoven fibrous mat as an extracellular matrix (ECM) mimetic. Morphological characterizations by electron microscopyshowed that the addition of varying amounts of TMV resulted in homogeneous nanofibers without phase separation and did not change the diameter of the composite nanofibers. The orientation of TMV in as-spun fibers could be readily controlled and post-processing of the nonwoven TMV–PVA mat significantly improved its water resistance. In addition, tensile tests were performed on individual nanofibers, which revealed that the TMV–PVA composite nanofibers achieved a comparable Young's modulus as PVA nanofibers. Since the modification of TMV is readily achieved via genetic or chemical methods, this process offers a facile way to incorporate a variety of functionalities into polymer nanofibers. As a demonstration of its potential as ECM mimetic, a mutant TMV containing RGD peptide was co-spun with PVA and the resulting fibrous substrates were used to promote cell growth.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JM00078K

Publication Info

Published in Journal of Materials Chemistry, Volume 21, Issue 24, 2011, pages 8550-8557.

Rights

© Journal of Materials Chemistry 2011, Royal Society of Chemistry.

APA Citation

Wu, L., Zang, J., Lee, L., Niu, Z., Horvatha, G., Braxtona, V., Wibowo, A., Bruckman, M., Ghoshroy, S., zur Loye, H.-C., Li, X., & Wang, Q. (2011). Electrospinning Fabrication, Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Rod-Like Virus-Based Composite Nanofibers. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 21(24), 8550–8557. https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JM00078K