Fabrication of Ni/Cu ordered bowl-like array film for the highly sensitive nonenzymatic detection of glucose

Ni/Cu ordered bowl-like array film was successfully synthesised by a two-step electrodeposition method using monodisperse polystyrene spheres as a template. A Cu bowl-like array was first electrochemically deposited into the template. After dissolving the polystyrene spheres, a Ni film was electrodeposited onto the Cu array. Morphology analysis revealed that the final product had an ordered hexagonal close-packed bowl-like pore array composed of nanoparticles. The Ni/Cu bowl-like array film could be directly used as a glucose-sensing material. It exhibited a high sensitivity of 3924 mu A mM(-) (1) cm(-2), a wide linearity ranging from 0.5 mu M to 2.5 mM and detection limit as low as 0.05 mu M. These results indicate that the Ni/Cu bowl-like array film is promising for the development of nonenzymatic glucose sensors.