Structural transitions in condensed colloidal virus phases

Analogous to monatomic systems colloidal phase behavior is entirely determined by the interaction potential between particles. This potential can be tuned using solutes such as multivalent salts and polymers with varying affinity for the colloids to create a hierarchy of attractions. Bacteriophage viruses are a naturally occurring type of colloidal particle with characteristics difficult to achieve by laboratory synthesis. They are monodisperse, nanometers in size, and have heterogeneous surface charge distributions. We use the MS2 and Qbeta bacteriophages (diameters 27-28nm) to understand the interplay between different attraction mechanisms on nanometer-sized colloids. Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) is used to characterize the inter-particle interaction between colloidal viruses using several polymer species and different salt types.