Nickel nanoparticles supported on porous silicon flour, application as a non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor

Abstract

Here, a non-enzymatic amperometric sensor is fabricated for glucose detection based on nickel nanoparticles supported on porous silicon flour. A facile procedure was introduced for the in-situ electroless assembling of nickel nanoparticles on porous silicon (PS) flour without using any reducing agent. Briefly, Ni@PSnanocompositewaspreparedthroughthechemicalreductionofNi2(Her)+ ions and oxidation of the surface of Si atoms in ammonium fluoride solution. The formation of the Ni@PS nanocomposite was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and FT-IR spectroscopy as well as cyclic voltammetry (CV). The synthesized nanocomposite was employed as an electrode material for non-enzymatic glucose (Gl) sensing using carbon paste electrode (CPE). The prepared amperometric sensor exhibited a wide linear range of 2.0–5000μmolL−1 with a low limit of detection (0.2μmolL−1) as well as high stability and fast response time (<3s). Also, no significant interference was observed from potentially interference species such as dopamine, ascorbic acid, uric acid and Cl− ions. The excellent applicability of the proposed sensor for determination of Gl in human blood serum with good accuracy and reproducibility made Ni@PS nanocomposite promising for the development of effective electrochemical non-enzymatic Gl sensor.