# The pH-dependent electrostatic interaction of a metal nanoparticle with the MS2 virus-like particles

## TL;DR

This study models how pH influences the electrostatic interactions between metal nanoparticles and MS2 virus-like particles, revealing charge sign changes that affect their attraction or repulsion.

## Contribution

It introduces a core-shell model accounting for pH-dependent surface charge variations in virus-nanoparticle interactions.

## Key findings

- pH causes a sign change in surface charge
- Electrostatic attraction or repulsion depends on pH
- Interaction transition occurs at pH 4

## Abstract

The electrostatic interaction of metal nanoparticles with viruses is attracting great interest due to their antiviral activity and their role in enhancing the detection of viruses at ultra-low concentrations. We model the MS2 virus devoid of its single strand RNA core using a core-shell model. The dependence of the inner and outer surface charge density on the pH is taken into account in our model of the interaction. Varying the pH causes a change in the sign of the outer surface charge leading to the attractive-repulsive transition in the electrostatic interaction between the MS2 virus and metal nanoparticle at pH = 4.