UP-SOOT is conceived to advance research and innovation in the framework of the sustainable development and circular economy, by manufacturing novel multifunctional hybrid nanocomposite inks, specifically from the recycle and upcycle of soot nanoparticles (NPs), to modify wearable electrochemical (bio)sensors targeted for health care monitoring. Soot NPs originate from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and results dangerous for climate, environment, and human health. UP-SOOT’s ambition relies on handling soot NPs as a renewable raw resource, alternative to state-of-art harmful (carbon nanotubes) and expensive (graphene) carbonaceous structures for manufacturing new added value hybrid nanocomposite inks for (bio)sensor applications. For addressing such a competitive technological challenge, UP-SOOT aims at implementing green and sustainable approaches, handling soot NPs as scaffold for surface decoration with biocompatible Au NPs, the latter in situ synthesized onto the doped carbonaceous structure by facile solution-based colloidal chemical routes, and surface functionalized with specific bioreceptors.

The novel hybrid nanocomposites will be used to formulate innovative inks based on biocompatible film-forming-agents, possessing rheological properties suitable for ink-jet or screen-printing technologies, to be deposited onto compostable, biopolymeric textiles, more sustainable technological alternatives to conventional synthetic polymers. These inks would be promising for the manufacturing of wearable electrochemical (bio)sensors to monitor, in real-time, physiological biomarkers from sweat (e.g. lactate, glucose, cortisol, vitamins), with high sensitivity and selectivity.