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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Journal Archiving and Interchange DTD v1.4 20241031//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/archiving/1.4/JATS-archive-oasis-article1-4-mathml3.dtd">
<article xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/archiving/1.4/xsd/JATS-archive-oasis-article1-4-mathml3.xsd" article-type="research-article" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">Nanotechnologies in Construction: A Scientific Internet-Journal</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn publication-format="electronic">2075-8545</issn><publisher><publisher-name xml:lang="en">ООО &quot;Центр новых технологий &quot;НаноСтроительство&quot;</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.15828/2075-8545-2026-18-4-529-536</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="edn">OVHHXJ</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading"><subject>CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS SCIENCE</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="article-type"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title xml:lang="en">Comparative efficiency analysis of biocides and conserving agents for cement-based systems</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0163-3507</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="authorid">https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?authorid=1031201</contrib-id><name><surname>Dukhanina</surname><given-names>Ulyana N.</given-names></name><bio><p>Cand. Sci. (Technics), Associate Professor; Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Department Materials Science and Technology of Materials, Senior Researcher of «Self-Cleaning Coatings Research Laboratory» of Innovative Scientific-Educational and Experimental-Industrial Center of Nanostructured Composite Materials</p></bio><email>duhanina777@yandex.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6895-4511</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="authorid">https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?authorid=111246</contrib-id><name><surname>Strokova</surname><given-names>Valeria V.</given-names></name><bio><p>Dr. Sci. (Technics), Full Professor; Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Innovative Scientific-Educational and Experimental-Industrial Center of Nanostructured Composite Materials, Head of the Department of Materials Science and Technology</p></bio><email>vvstrokova@gmail.com</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5358-2935</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="authorid">https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?authorid=353997</contrib-id><name><surname>Stepina</surname><given-names>Irina V.</given-names></name><bio><p>Cand. Sci. (Technics), Associate Professor; Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, Assistant Professor Department of Construction Materials Science</p></bio><email>sudeykina@mail.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6111-201X</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="authorid">https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?authorid=609418</contrib-id><name><surname>Bazhenova</surname><given-names>Sofia I.</given-names></name><bio><p>Cand. Sci. (Technics), Associate Professor; Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, Assistant Professor Department of Construction Materials Science</p></bio><email>bazhenovasi@mgsu.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><city>Belgorod</city><country>Russian Federation</country><institution>Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. Shukhov</institution></aff><aff id="aff2"><city>Moscow</city><country>Russian Federation</country><institution>National Research Moscow State University of Civil Engineering</institution></aff><pub-date date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2026-08-22"><day>22</day><month>08</month><year>2026</year></pub-date><volume>18</volume><issue>4</issue><fpage>529</fpage><lpage>536</lpage><history><date date-type="received" iso-8601-date="2026-06-01"><day>01</day><month>06</month><year>2026</year></date><date date-type="accepted" iso-8601-date="2026-08-15"><day>15</day><month>08</month><year>2026</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>© 2026 Ulyana N. Dukhanina, Valeria V. Strokova, Irina V. Stepina, Sofia I. Bazhenova</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2026</copyright-year><copyright-holder>Ulyana N. Dukhanina, Valeria V. Strokova, Irina V. Stepina, Sofia I. Bazhenova</copyright-holder><license license-type="open-access" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><license-p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)</ext-link> License.</license-p></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://nanobuild.ru/en_EN/journal/Nanobuild-4-2026/529-536.pdf" xlink:title="URL">https://nanobuild.ru/en_EN/journal/Nanobuild-4-2026/529-536.pdf</self-uri><abstract><p>Introduction. The use of biocides in primary and secondary protection ensures prolonged biological resistance of building materials. However, assessing their potential in cement systems requires a comprehensive analysis, taking into account the alkalinity of the environment, chemical compatibility with binder components, and the selection of an effective concentration. This article presents a comparative analysis of the resistance of biocides, conserving agents, and auxiliary components to Aspergillus niger micromycete to justify their applicability for protecting cement composites from biocorrosion. Materials and methods of research. The efficiency of biocides (alaminol, polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHMG), food conserving agents (sodium propionate, nisin), and additional components (butylene glycol, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)) against the micromycete Aspergillus niger, which is highly resistant to adverse conditions, was analyzed. A series of aqueous solutions of the additives studied were used at the dosages recommended by the manufacturers. Fungicidal and fungistatic activity were assessed based on the mycelial growth inhibition zone and fungal growth rate. Results and discussion. PHMG demonstrated the highest biocidal effictiveness against Aspergillus niger, providing complete suppression of test culture growth across the entire concentration range. The growth of the inhibition zone from 4 to 7 mm correlated with an increase in the biocide dosage from 1% to 5%. Modification of the samples with alaminol at concentrations of 5% and 8% resulted in the formation of an inhibition zone of 3-4 mm and the absence of visible mycelial growth. The remaining additives studied (sodium propionate, nisin, HPMC, and butylene glycol) did not exhibit any independent fungicidal activity under these conditions. Conclusion. The study conducted gives grounds for the perspective of using polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride as an effective bioprotective agent for cement composites.</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>biocide</kwd><kwd>conserving agent</kwd><kwd>Aspergillus niger</kwd><kwd>inhibition zone</kwd><kwd>fungal resistance</kwd></kwd-group><funding-group><funding-statement>This work was implemented within the framework of the contest of the National Research University Moscow State University of Civil Engineering for the conduct of fundamental and applied scientific research (Research activity/Research and Advanced Development) by research teams of organizations – members and strategic partners of the Industry Consortium «Construction and Architecture» in 2026 (Contract № BSTU/К-26) using the equipment of the High Technology Center of Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. 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