{
  "abstract": "Developing synthetic chemical motifs responsive to biological metabolism allows us to expand the design space of functional biomaterials. The most basic metabolic feature in all living systems is respiration, the flow of electrons to an energy acceptor. Here, we demonstrate that viologens respond to extracellular electron transfer (EET)-mediated respiration of the facultative anaerobe Shewanella oneidensis. Through molecular engineering of the bipyridinium core to tune its reduction potential, we identified an asymmetric viologen structure that interacts with S. oneidensis EET and can be incorporated into biopolymers. Conjugation to a biopolymer also reduced cytotoxicity. The resulting hydrogels encasing S. oneidensis exhibited reversible and repeatable electrochromic switching behavior driven by bacterial metabolism, providing a visual readout. These findings expand the use of S. oneidensis EET beyond metal reduction and establish a reversible organic material interface with this electroactive bacterium.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for Complex and Active Materials",
    "University of California, Irvine",
    "Chemistry",
    "Biomedical Engineering",
    "Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Aleksander Bartnik",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-0071-4175"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Justin Chen",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-8622-0384"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Dipankar Barpuzary",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6276-7026"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Seunghyun Sim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4232-5917"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e7eppzkr3k362.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "e7eppzkr3k362",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2305|Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7204756094",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-30",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e7eppzkr3k362.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2305|Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Reversible Electrochromic Materials Fueled by Shewanella oneidensis",
  "title_text": "Reversible Electrochromic Materials Fueled by Shewanella oneidensis",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e7eppzkr3k362",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}