Copper columnar nanostructures fabricated by glancing angle deposition as a robust and scalable method for high sensitive non-enzymatic glucose detection

In this work, we have proposed a proper method to fabricate porous Cu nanostructured electrodes for nonenzymatic glucose detection. The glancing angle deposition (GLAD) has been used to produce Cu nanostructures on the FTO substrates. To optimize the sensing performance of the electrode, the effects of vapor deposition angle and azimuthal substrate rotation speed have been investigated. As a result, the superior electrocatalitic activity is obtained under the deposition angle of theta = 82 degrees and the substrate rotation speed of phi = 20 rpm, respectively. By controlling the GLAD deposition parameters, an excellent sensing performance against glucose with a high sensitivity of 1862 mu Acm(-2) mM(-1), a low detection limit of 0.048 mu M and two wide linear ranges of detection of 10 mu M-2 mM and 2-8 mM have been achieved at the applied potential of 0.5 V. Considering the high selectivity, excellent reproducibility and accurate measuring of the glucose levels in human serums, the proposed Cu-based sensor has a remarkable potential for large-scale production as a non-enzymatic glucometer.