Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
186,123 studies31 sourcesUpdated 19 min ago
PreprintCC BY-NC-NDChemRxiv

Reversible Electrochromic Materials Fueled by Shewanella oneidensis

  • Aleksander Bartnik1,2,3
  • Justin Chen3,2
  • Dipankar Barpuzary1,2,3
  • Seunghyun Sim1,2,3,4,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Center for Complex and Active Materials
  2. 2University of California, Irvine
  3. 3Chemistry
  4. 4Biomedical Engineering
  5. 5Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

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.

Related

  1. Enhanced Ethanol Degradation Using Geobacter metallireducens – Shewanella oneidensis Coculture Bioanodes in Single-Chamber Microbial Electrolysis Cells
    Avinash Jukanti, Vamshi Krishna Bommagani, Abhishiktha Chiliveru +2
    ACS OmegaPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textEnvironmental science & pollutionCrossref
  2. Overexpression of the endogenous diguanylate cyclase gene dgcS enhances biofilm formation by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 on electrodes
    Nanae Iwanami, Akiho Matsumoto, Ryotaro Yamamoto +3
    Frontiers in MicrobiologyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textEnvironmental science & pollutionCrossrefEurope PMCPMC
  3. Environmental flexibility across dynamic Cambrian ecosystems fueled trilobite success
    Ibtissam Chraiki, Ernest Chi Fru, El Hafid Bouougri +10
    Communications Earth & EnvironmentPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0General earth scienceNatureCrossref
  4. Reversible Atlantic overturning despite continued Greenland ice sheet melt
    Chuncheng Guo, Shuting Yang, Ilana Schiller-Weiss +6
    Science advancesPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textClimate scienceEurope PMCCrossref
  5. Electrochemical Capture of Microplastics via Reversible Metal Deposition in Aqueous Solutions
    Casey Mari Apurado, Amaris Sacalxot-Berrios, Kent J. X. Zheng
    ChemRxivPreprintCC BY-NC-NDFull textEnvironmental science & pollutionChemRxiv

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{bartnik2026reversible,
  title = {{Reversible Electrochromic Materials Fueled by Shewanella oneidensis}},
  author = {Aleksander Bartnik and Justin Chen and Dipankar Barpuzary and Seunghyun Sim},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Reversible Electrochromic Materials Fueled by Shewanella oneidensis
AU  - Aleksander Bartnik
AU  - Justin Chen
AU  - Dipankar Barpuzary
AU  - Seunghyun Sim
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/30
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008039/v1
AB  - 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.
ER  -