Highly sensitive, non-enzymatic and precious metal-free electrochemical glucose sensor based on a Ni–Cu/TiO2 modified glassy carbon electrode

Abstract

Herein, a facile one step synthesis of Ni–Cu supported on TiO2 alloy nanoparticles through the polyol method, which reflect high catalytic perform­ance in enzymeless electrochemical glucose sensing and applied onto glassy carbon, is reported. The morpho­logy imaging and physical properties of the Ni–Cu/TiO2 nanocomposite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The electro­chemical studies/characterizations of glucose oxidation were realised in a basic medium and the new sensor was found to be a better electrochemical glucose sensor than Ni/TiO2/Ti and CuO/TiO2/Ti modified electrodes. The fabricated sensor was highly sensitive (719.9 µA mM-1 cm-2), had a wide linear range (from 0.1 to 6 mM), selective and tolerant towards endogenous species, such as ascorbic acid, uric acid, acetaminophen and sodium chloride.