The work investigates the influence of surface physicochemical properties of planar indium tin oxide (ITO) as a model substrate on T4 bacteriophage adsorption. A comparative T4 bacteriophage adsorption study shows a significant difference in bacteriophage adsorption observed on chemically modified planar ITO when compared to similarly modified particulate ITO, which infers that trends observed in virus-particle interaction studies are not necessarily transferrable to predict virus-planar surface adsorption behaviour. The adsorption of T4 onto bare, amine and carboxylic functionalised planar ITO suggests the presence of a unique binding behaviour involving specific functional groups on planar ITO surface. The paper demonstrates the significance of physicochemical properties of the surface to bacteriophage-surface interactions. These findings will aid better fabrication of bacteriophage-based interfaces. 

Read more: J. Colloid and Interface Science (2016), 468, 192 - 199

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