{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T10:49:03Z","timestamp":1791888543399,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791158400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791158400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100016297","name":"Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["222-11-062"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["222-11-062"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100016297","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigated alginate-immobilized planktonic electroactive bacteria directly coated onto a carbon-felt anode as an alternative bioanode configuration without prolonged biofilm development. Carbon-black (CB) nanoparticles were incorporated into the alginate matrix to enhance conductivity and facilitate extracellular electron transfer (EET). The electrochemical performance of alginate-immobilized Shewanella oneidensis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was systematically evaluated by examining the effects of bacterial density and CB-nanoparticle loading. For both bacterial systems, the optimal bacterial density was OD600 0.5. At this bacterial density, S. oneidensis and P. aeruginosa achieved current densities of 4.08 \u00b1 0.18 and 1.93 \u00b1 0.18 A\/m2, respectively. The incorporation of CB-nanoparticles significantly enhanced electrochemical performance with an optimal loading of 3 mg. Under these conditions, the current densities increased to 5.24 \u00b1 0.31 A\/m2 for S. oneidensis and 3.34 \u00b1 0.25 A\/m2 for P. aeruginosa, accompanied by a reduction in charge transfer resistance. SEM analysis confirmed the successful incorporation of bacterial cells and CB-nanoparticles within the alginate matrix. The enhanced electrochemical performance was attributed to conductive pathways formed by CB-nanoparticles, which facilitated electron transfer between the immobilized bacterial cells and the anode. Overall, these findings demonstrated the potential of conductive alginate+carbon-black anodes to provide effective strategies for improving EET.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18192428","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T13:47:07Z","timestamp":1791208027000},"page":"2428","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Conductive Alginate\u2013Carbon-Black Bioanode for Immediate Microbial Electrolysis Cell Operation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Abhishiktha","family":"Chiliveru","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Vamshi Krishna","family":"Bommagani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Avinash","family":"Jukanti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6332-0181","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Irina Amar","family":"Dubrovin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3464-1936","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alex","family":"Schechter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Sciences, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"},{"name":"Research and Development Centre for Renewable Energy, New Technologies, Research Centre (NTC), \r\n\t  University of West Bohemia, 30100 Pilsen, Czech Republic"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Rivka","family":"Cahan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227986","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpowsour.2020.227986","article-title":"Immobilization of bacterial cells on carbon-cloth anode using alginate for hydrogen generation in a microbial electrolysis cell","volume":"455","author":"Gandu","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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