A nano-Ni based ultrasensitive nonenzymatic electrochemical sensor for glucose: Enhancing sensitivity through a nanowire array strategy

Highly ordered Ni nanowire arrays (NiNWAs) were synthesized for the first time using a template-directed electropolymerization strategy with a nanopore polycarbonate (PC) membrane template, and their morphological characterization were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). A NiNWAs based electrode shows very high electrochemical activity for electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose in alkaline medium, which has been utilized as the basis of the fabrication of a nonenzymatic biosensor for electrochemical detection of glucose. The biosensor can be applied to the quantification of glucose with a linear range covering from 5.0 x 10(-7) to 7.0 x 10(-3) M, a high sensitivity of 1043 mu A mM(-1) cm(-1), and a low detection limit of 1 x 10(-7) M. The experiment results also showed that the sensor exhibits good reproducibility and long-term stability, as well as high selectivity with no interference from other oxidable species. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.