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. 2024 Jul 17;16(28):37275-37287.
doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c07151. Epub 2024 Jul 3.

Light-Induced Transformation of Virus-Like Particles on TiO2

Mona Kohantorabi  1 , Aldo Ugolotti  2 , Benedikt Sochor  3   4 , Johannes Roessler  5   6 , Michael Wagstaffe  1 , Alexander Meinhardt  1   7 , E Erik Beck  1   7 , Daniel Silvan Dolling  1   7 , Miguel Blanco Garcia  1   7 , Marcus Creutzburg  1 , Thomas F Keller  1   8 , Matthias Schwartzkopf  3 , Sarathlal Koyiloth Vayalil  3   9 , Roland Thuenauer  10   11   12 , Gabriela Guédez  11 , Christian Löw  11 , Gregor Ebert  13 , Ulrike Protzer  13 , Wolfgang Hammerschmidt  5   6 , Reinhard Zeidler  5   6   14 , Stephan V Roth  3   15 , Cristiana Di Valentin  2 , Andreas Stierle  1   8 , Heshmat Noei  1   16
Affiliations

Light-Induced Transformation of Virus-Like Particles on TiO2

Mona Kohantorabi et al. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. .

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) shows significant potential as a self-cleaning material to inactivate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and prevent virus transmission. This study provides insights into the impact of UV-A light on the photocatalytic inactivation of adsorbed SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (VLPs) on a TiO2 surface at the molecular and atomic levels. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, combined with density functional theory calculations, reveals that spike proteins can adsorb on TiO2 predominantly via their amine and amide functional groups in their amino acids blocks. We employ atomic force microscopy and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) to investigate the molecular-scale morphological changes during the inactivation of VLPs on TiO2 under light irradiation. Notably, in situ measurements reveal photoinduced morphological changes of VLPs, resulting in increased particle diameters. These results suggest that the denaturation of structural proteins induced by UV irradiation and oxidation of the virus structure through photocatalytic reactions can take place on the TiO2 surface. The in situ GISAXS measurements under an N2 atmosphere reveal that the virus morphology remains intact under UV light. This provides evidence that the presence of both oxygen and UV light is necessary to initiate photocatalytic reactions on the surface and subsequently inactivate the adsorbed viruses. The chemical insights into the virus inactivation process obtained in this study contribute significantly to the development of solid materials for the inactivation of enveloped viruses.

Keywords: AFM; GISAXS; SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (VLPs); XPS; photocatalytic oxidation; titanium dioxide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) AFM topography (0.4 × 0.4 μm2 (i) and 0.15 × 0.15 μm2 (ii)) and (b) phase images of adsorbed SARS-CoV-2 VLPs (i) and ΔSVLP (ii) on the surface of TiO2(101). (c) Line scan profile of selected particles in AFM topography images (a, (i) and (ii)).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) AFM (1.0 × 1.0 μm2) topography image of the selected area in Figure S4. (b) Line scan profile of selected VLP for nano-IR measurement. (c) AFM-IR spectra of adsorbed SARS-CoV-2 VLPs on the surface of TiO2(101) at three different locations in the AFM image. The red, blue, and green spectra are acquired at positions corresponding to the red, blue, and green spots in the AFM topography image (a). AFM-IR maps were measured at two different frequencies: 1650 cm–1 (d) and 1416 cm–1 (e).
Figure 3
Figure 3
C 1s (a) and N 1s (b) spectra of adsorbed CCM and VLPs on the surface of TiO2(101) and on top difference spectra of VLPs and CCM are included for the C 1s and N 1s core-level scans. Deconvoluted core-level photoelectron spectra of C 1s (c) and N 1s (d) for adsorbed VLPs on the surface of TiO2(101). In panel (b) the position of the peaks calculated for the different N species and adsorption modes is marked by colored sticks. The structure of the optimized DFT models of the simulated adsorbed cys or asn molecules as well as that of the isolated dipeptide are shown in panels (e–j). N, O, C, S, Ti, and H atoms are shown by blue, red, gray, yellow, (larger) gray, and white spheres, respectively. Each N atom is highlighted through circles, whose colors correspond to that of the sticks in panel (b). On all of the structures, chemical or hydrogen bonds are highlighted by solid or dashed black lines, respectively. The corresponding bond length is reported as well in Å.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) 2D GISAXS data of the adsorbed VLPs on the surface of TiO2(101) and after 30 min of UV irradiation in air. The black and red boxes mark the vertical and horizontal cut position, respectively. (b) Horizontal line cuts at the region of interest (red box in (a)) with the corresponding fit.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Particle size distribution of VLP, surface proteins, and viral byproducts obtained from fitted GISAXS scattering curves in Figure 4b. (b) AFM topography images (0.5 × 0.5 μm2) of a single selected adsorbed VLP on the surface of TiO2(101) (i), after 30 min in dark and air (ii), and after UV irradiation in air for 30 min (iii). (c) Line scan profile of the particles in the corresponding AFM topography images in (b).
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