Solution combustion route for synthesizing Co3O4/MWCNTs and Mn2O3/MWCNTs electrodes as glucose sensors

Abstract

In an effort to produce a simple, rapid and cost-effective detector for glucose that would be less affected by environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, that often put commonly used enzyme-based glucose detectors to disadvantage, this study was conducted to explore the possibility of producing temperature and humidity stable nano-particulates with the required sensitivity to detect and measure glucose. Nano Co3O4 and Mn2O3 particulates of about 50-85 nm sizes were successfully synthesized using solution combustion technique and tested for sensitivity using cyclic voltammetry technique. The test was conducted by making a working electrode, consisting of the synthesized oxide powders embedded in MWCNTs and measuring its electrocatalytic activities in glucose solutions. The results indicated that both Co3O4/MWCNTs and Mn2O3/MWCNTs exhibited moderate reversible electrocatalytic activities in 0.0001 to 1 mM glucose solutions. Oxidation reactions for Co3O4/MWCNTs and Mn2O3/MWCNTs electrodes were noted to occur at the applied voltage approximately 0.45 and 0.55 V, respectively. Both electrodes showed high detection sensitivity at low glucose concentration ranges, although their sensitivity tend to decrease with increasing glucose concentration. The results suggest that Co3O4 and Mn2O3 have great potential for use as glucose sensor in enzyme-less glucose detection applications.