Interaction between nanocellulose and tobacco mosaic virus-like particles: an atomic force microscopy study

Tobacco mosaic virus-like nanoparticles and nanocellulose are materials with great potential for use in bionanotechnology. We used atomic force microscopy to study the interaction between these materials at the nanoscale. It was found that they could form a composite in which the nanocellulose fibers constituted a three-dimensional scaffold covered by dense films of the crystallized viral nanoparticles. We assumed that the reason for the formation of this coating was the depletion interaction between the viral nanoparticles, induced by nanocellulose acting as a depletant. We believe that such composites are promising for the engineering of artificial human tissues.