Nitrogen-Doped Graphene as a Robust Scaffold for the Homogeneous Deposition of Copper Nanostructures: A Nonenzymatic Disposable Glucose Sensor

Abstract

The attachment of nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) followed by electrodeposition of copper nanostructures (CuNSs) is described in this paper. Nitrogen-doped graphene oxide (N-GO) was prepared by intercalating melamine into graphene oxide (GO) by sonication. The doping of nitrogen was confirmed from the characteristic peaks at 285.3 and 399 eV in the XPS corresponding to the C–N bond and nitrogen, respectively. The presence of amine groups on the N-GO was exploited to attach them on GCE via Michael’s reaction. Subsequently, N-GO was electrochemically reduced to form NG by reducing the oxygen functionalities present on the N-GO. Then, the CuNSs on the NG modified electrode was prepared by electrodeposition at various applied potentials with different deposition times. The homogeneous deposition of cubic, spherical, quasidendritic, and dendritic NS at the applied potentials of 0, −0.10, −0.30, and −0.40 V, respectively, was evidenced from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studie...