Ni-Co bimetal nanowires filled multiwalled carbon nanotubes for the highly sensitive and selective non-enzymatic glucose sensor applications.

K Ramachandran,T Raj Kumar,G Gnana Kumar,K Justice Babu

doi:10.1038/srep36583

K Ramachandran, T Raj Kumar + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36583

Copy DOI

Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Nov 11, 2016
Citations: 141	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Madurai Kamaraj University

Abstract

The facile, time and cost efficient and environmental benign approach has been developed for the preparation of Nickel (Ni)-Cobalt (Co) alloy nanowires filled multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with the aid of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN)/Ni-Co catalyst. The controlled incorporation of Ni-Co nanostructures in the three dimensional (3D) pore structures of MSN yielded the catalytically active system for the MWCNT growth. The inner surface of MWCNTs was quasi-continuously filled with face-centered cubic (fcc) structured Ni-Co nanowires. The as-prepared nanostructures were exploited as non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor probes for the reliable detection of glucose. The electrochemical measurements illustrated that the fabricated sensor exhibited an excellent electrochemical performance toward glucose oxidation with a high sensitivity of 0.695 mA mM−1 cm−2, low detection limit of 1.2 μM, a wide linear range from 5 μM–10 mM and good selectivity. The unprecedented electrochemical performances obtained for the prepared nanocomposite are purely attributed to the synergistic effects of Ni-Co nanowires and MWCNTs. The constructed facile, selective and sensitive glucose sensor has also endowed its reliability in analyzing the human serum samples, which wide opened the new findings for exploring the novel nanostructures based glucose sensor devices with affordable cost and good stability.

Highlights

Carbon based nanomaterials have been widely exploited for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors on account of their low cost, electrical conductivity and excellent corrosion resistance in various electrolytes[10]
The preparation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is achieved with the aid of catalysts and the carbon precursor molecules are catalytically decomposed on the surface of catalysts, resulting the incorporation of carbon atoms into the catalyst[14]
It is understood that two stages of mechanism are involved in the preparation of MWCNTs; one metal is responsible for the nucleation process, while the other is responsible for the catalytic growth[24]

Summary

Introduction

Carbon based nanomaterials have been widely exploited for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors on account of their low cost, electrical conductivity and excellent corrosion resistance in various electrolytes[10]. It is clear that the deposition of metal nanoparticles on the outer shells of MWCNTs necessitated the acid-functionalization, which may hamper their applications in biosensors These conventional strategies cause the structural damage to the walls of MWCNTs, leading to the loss of their electrical conductivity and mechanical properties[37]. The loss of mechanical properties leads to the uneven distribution of metal nanoparticles over the walls of MWCNTs, resulting the non-interconnected conduction channels for the glucose detection and the involved preparation procedures are complicated multi-step processes[38]. It is envisaged to identify the influential parameters involved in the effectual electrooxidation of glucose under various electrochemical regimes and conditions

Objectives

Methods

Results