Printed electronics (PE) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the European Union (EU), and it is estimated that less than 40% of electronic waste is recycled within the EU. They are made of fossil-based materials and precious metals, and their end-of-life (EoL) is either in landfills or incineration, which in both cases, destroys precious materials forcing the use of mined raw materials. Thus, there is a need to explore new options for PE that are designed for reuse, repair, and high-quality recycling. In this sense, the main goal of Sustain-a-Print (SaP) is to open new life-cycle routes and design and implement sustainability into each life-cycle step. This includes the choice of materials (biobased, recycled, biodegradable), usage, origin, processing, assembly, and EoL.
The SAFARI project aims to develop new 2D materials using sustainable and safe processes. The project focuses on creating hybrid formulations of MXenes and Graphene, which are known to possess unique and desirable properties such as thermal stability and electrical conductivity. The goal of the project is to develop sustainable and safe materials that can be used in a wide range of applications such as more sensible biosensors, conductive ink, and EMI shielding. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation funding programme under Grant Agreement 101135965.
The objective of this project is to generate a portable, easy-to-use, miniaturized system for determining various parameters, such as alcohol content, sugar concentration, and pH, in fermented worts for craft beer. The sensors will be based on a three-electrode electrochemical cell, with different modifications depending on the parameters to be determined. This responds to the need to obtain an easy, simple and fast system for monitoring the fermentation process and in the subsequent evaluation of the quality of the final product. Studying these parameters allows us to determine the current state of the fermentation process and whether it needs to be stopped or if more time is required. Understanding how the fermentation process progresses is important for obtaining optimal product properties and preventing quality loss. It should be noted that the technology intended to be applied in this project is pioneering in beer manufacturing process analysis systems and that a new technology will be created that can be extended to other beverages that undergo fermentation processes, the detection of which is of interest not only to the craft beer industry but also to the agri-food sector in general.
This project has been funded by the Government of the Principality of Asturias through the Asturian Science, Business Competitiveness and Innovation Agency (SEKUENS) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI), and has been co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), within the call for grants aimed at the execution of R+D projects in the Principality of Asturias, for the year 2024 (RIS3-Business Program)
The project is based on the acquisition and evaluation of different customized high-sensitivity UV/VIS spectrometers, as well as optical components (filters and slits) to determine the analytical characteristics of the system in applications that require high sensitivity. These are usually applications where the concentration of the analyte is very low, where the optical path is less than the standard distance of 1cm or where the absorption of the species of interest takes place near the limits of the spectral range.
This project has been funded by the Government of the Principality of Asturias through the Asturian Science, Business Competitiveness and Innovation Agency (SEKUENS) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI).
Participation in international consortia that submit proposals for R+D projects to calls with European funding, specifically the HORIZON EUROPE programme
This project has been funded by the Government of the Principality of Asturias through the Asturian Science, Business Competitiveness and Innovation Agency (SEKUENS) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI).
Prevention via rapid screening to enable early diagnosis of diseases through the detection of trace amounts of biomarkers represents one of the most powerful and sustainable approach to prevent and thus combat a vast number of illnesses, ultimately sparing lives. Aldehydes, arising as byproducts of cellular metabolism, oxidative stress, and lipid peroxidation, serve as biomarkers for a spectrum of diseases (lung cancer, liver and neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes complications), playing a pivotal role in health monitoring due to their potential to indicate tissue damage and inflammation. PERFORMANCE project aims to combine the high selectivity of ad hoc molecular receptors with the ultrasensitivity of metal nanoparticles (NPs) for the fabrication of hybrid plasmonic sensors capable of detecting and identifying simultaneously multiple aldehydes in both liquid and gas phases. These sensors will rely on three-dimensional networks (3DNs) of metal NPs bridged or functionalized by ad hoc molecular receptors. To expand the utility of these sensors, two potential detection methods are proposed: electrochemical analysis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. To enhance SERS detection accuracy, machine learning techniques will be employed. Overall, PERFORMANCE aims to provide the fundamental knowledge to develop a sensing technology that, targeting a non-invasive tool for health monitoring, could be implemented in point-of-care (PoC) diagnostic tests featuring sensitivity down to nanomolar concentration range (10−9 mol/L), high selectivity for aldehydes, response time < 1 min, stability under well-known test conditions for health monitoring applications, multiplex performance and long shelf life beyond the state of the art.
This project has been funded by the Government of the Principality of Asturias through the Asturian Science, Business Competitiveness and Innovation Agency (SEKUENS) within the framework of the JC 2024 International Call of ERANET M-ERA.NET 3 (funded by the European Union`s HORIZON program, Grant Agreement nº 95817)
The main objective of this project is the optimization of innovative and highly sensitive nanomaterials for their integration into screen printing inks to obtain electrode devices with high electrical conductivity, electronic transfer and electrocatalytic capacity and/or SERS effect for future sensors that solve analytical problems in fields such as agri-food, environmental and clinical.
During the project, synthesis routes will be proposed to obtain these graphene aerogels with different porosity, surface area, density and electrical conductivity, in such a way that a range of nanomaterials will be available that will be used to obtain new electrodic surfaces whose electrochemical characteristics will be evaluated and classified according to the requirements in each application. In addition, these aerogels will be doped with metals such as nickel, gold and silver, which will allow the obtaining of electrodic surfaces with different electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties, as well as SERS (Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering) substrates that increase the intensity of the Raman scattering bands characteristic of a compound, which will allow to be available much more sensitive and selective detection methods.
This project has been funded by the Government of the Principality of Asturias through the Asturian Science, Business Competitiveness and Innovation Agency (SEKUENS) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI), and has been co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), within the call for grants aimed at the execution of R+D projects in the Principality of Asturias, for the year 2025
Do you want to be up to date with our new product releases and relevant scientific content? Subscribe to Metrohm DropSens Electrochemistry newsletter and receive our latest news
