Non-enzymatic glucose sensors composed of NFS-CuO/Ag/SiNPs based composite material with high performance

Abstract

Diabetes management is a challenging task and accurate glucose sensing remains a crucial yet elusive goal. Herein, we demonstrated the capacity of electrochemically-active non-enzymatic glucose sensing of nanoporous CuO/Ag and nanoflower shaped-CuO/Ag/SiNPs (NFS-CuO/Ag/SiNPs) in an alkaline environment. The crystalline structure and the surface morphology of these nanoporous CuO/Ag, and NFS-CuO/Ag/SiNPs-based composite materials were analyzed using powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron spectra (XPS), Raman Spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The electro-catalytic characteristics of the fabricated electrode materials for glucose electro-oxidation in alkaline circumstances were examined using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry methods. The non-enzymatic glucose sensors (NEGS) composed of CuO/Ag and NFS-CuO/Ag/SiNPs nanoporous composite materials exhibited a remarkable performance for glucose sensing with a wide linear range of 0.001 to 10 mM and 0.1 to 2.5 µM, an ultrahigh sensitivity of 4877.6 μA mM−1 cm−2, and a low detection limit (0.1 μM). The designed electrodes responded positively to the addition of glucose electro-oxidation and reached steady-state within 0.4 s with reproducibility (above 3000 cycles). The diffusion rate constant for NFS-CuO/Ag/SiNPs-based sensor is 0.6 cm/s. The nanoporous composite materials are cost-effective and possess improved sensitivity, selectivity, and response time, thus making them suitable for the fabrication of glucometers. The use of such materials will be beneficial for the diagnosis and treatment of hyperglycemia, as well as for the development of implantable glucose sensors and wearable sensors.