Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensors Involving Copper: An Electrochemical Perspective

Non-enzymatic glucose sensors based on the use of copper and its oxides have emerged as promising candidates to replace enzymatic glucose sensors owing to their stability, ease of fabrication, and superior sensitivity. This review explains the theories of the mechanism of glucose oxidation on copper transition metal electrodes. It also presents an overview on the development of among the best non-enzymatic copper-based glucose sensors in the past 10 years. A brief description of methods, interesting findings, and important performance parameters are provided to inspire the reader and researcher to create new improvements in sensor design. Finally, several important considerations that pertain to the nano-structuring of the electrode surface is provided.

Facile synthesis of CuCo2O4@NiCo2O4 hybrid nanowire arrays on carbon cloth for a multicomponent non-enzymatic glucose sensor

The design of hierarchical heterogeneous structures with rational components is considered as a promising method to enhance the properties of electrocatalyst. Binary metal oxides, with high electrochemical activity, have attracted considerable interest in glucose determination. In this work, we synthesized the CuCo₂O₄@NiCo₂O₄ hybrid structure on conductive carbon cloth (CC) via a simple two-step hydrothermal process and investigated its catalytic ability toward glucose. The two individual components that make up this hybrid electrode have good electrical conductivity and excellent catalytic properties for glucose, so the smart combination of these two active materials can provide more catalytic sites and sufficient redox couples for the glucose oxidation. As a result, the CuCo₂O₄@NiCo₂O₄ modified CC presented superior glucose sensing properties, including ultrahigh sensitivity, fast response time, wide linear range and acceptable detection limit. Besides, the sample also exhibited good selectivity for substances in human blood that interfere with glucose detection, such as UA, AA, fructose, sucrose and KCl. The potential of the CuCo₂O₄@NiCo₂O₄/CC electrode for practical application was investigated by measuring the glucose concentration in real serum samples. These results prove that the construction of hierarchical ordered structure is conducive to the improvement of glucose sensor.

Electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose sensors: recent progress and perspectives

This review summarizes recent advances in the development of electrocatalysts for non-enzymatic glucose detection. The sensing mechanism and influencing factors are discussed, and the perspectives and challenges are also addressed.

A Cu2O/Cu/carbon cloth as a binder-free electrode for non-enzymatic glucose sensors with high performance

An electrode prepared via potentiostatic electrochemical deposition exhibits a 60 nM detection limit and a 1 linear range of 1 to 1555 μM.

A novel method to construct a 3D FeWO4 microsphere-array electrode as a non-enzymatic glucose sensor

As the special sensor for glucose detection, a non-noble-metal nanoarray architecture is extremely attractive due to its easy accessibility to target molecules and more exposed surface area. In this communication, we report the first synthesis of FeWO₄ microsphere-array on the three-dimensional (3D) Ni foam (FeWO₄ microspheres/NF) as the mimetic electrode for efficient catalytic oxidation of glucose in an alkaline medium. When used as an artificial analog glucose sensor, the result of the present sensing system can also be calculated with a sensitivity of 2810 μA mM cm^-2, a linear range from 0.04 mM to 2 mM and a detection limit up to 1.4 μM (S/N = 3). This glucose sensor with satisfactory stability and reproducibility can also be applied to the detection of glucose in human serum. As a promising sensing platform, this proposed 3D FeWO₄ microspheres/NF may open a new strategy for pursuing electrochemical detection of biomolecules.

Alleviating concentration polarization: a micro three-electrode interdigitated glucose sensor based on nanoporous gold from a mild process

Precisely detecting the concentration of glucose in the human body is an attractive way to prevent or diagnose diabetes. Compared with the traditional enzyme-based electrochemical glucose sensors, the non-enzymatic ones have gradually come to people's attention recently. By integrating three electrodes into one device, glucose sensors can achieve superior performance and are convenient to carry. Herein, a non-enzymatic three-electrode interdigitated glucose sensor (TEIDGS) based on nanoporous gold is designed and fabricated. To our best knowledge, it is the first time that interdigitated electrodes are combined in a single non-enzymatic glucose sensor device. Due to the advantage of the interdigitated structure and the smart design of the three-electrode circuit board, the TEIDGS can effectively reduce concentration polarization and achieve a high detective sensitivity for glucose of 1217 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻² and 343 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻² in the ranges of 0.001–0.590 mM and 0.59–7.00 mM, respectively. Moreover, a low detection limit of 390 nM can be reached. In addition, this TEIDGS possesses excellent selectivity for glucose among other interferents. Strikingly, after three weeks of operation, it can still retain a high detection performance. This work will certainly provide an efficient structure and proper catalytic material choice for future non-enzymatic glucose sensors.

An interdigitated three-electrode non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on nanoporous gold is achieved and presents excellent sensing performance including great sensitivity, high stability and low detective limit.

A non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on a CoNi2Se4/rGO nanocomposite with ultrahigh sensitivity at low working potential

A CoNi₂Se₄–rGO nanocomposite fabricated on Ni foam shows excellent efficiency for non-enzymatic glucose sensing at low applied potential.

High-performance electrochemical nitrite sensing enabled using commercial carbon fiber cloth

Exceptional high-performance and stable electrochemical nitrite sensing enabled using commercial carbon fiber cloth.

Direct growth of CuCo2S4 nanosheets on carbon fiber textile with enhanced electrochemical pseudocapacitive properties and electrocatalytic properties towards glucose oxidation

Flexible and wearable electronic devices with excellent performance have been desired for making the next generation of electronic products. Herein, the synthesis of CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets on flexible carbon fiber textile (CFT) by a facile one-step and scalable hydrothermal procedure is reported, which is free from the sulphurization process used in the conventional synthesis of mixed metal sulphospinels. The as-prepared CuCo₂S₄ nanostructures on CFT can provide rich reaction sites and short ion diffusion paths. The CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets are employed as the free-standing electrodes for two different applications: high-performance supercapacitors and non-enzymatic glucose sensors. When employed as a flexible electrode material for supercapacitors, the electrode presents ultrahigh performance in energy storage with a specific capacitance of 3321.6 F g^-1 at 5 A g^-1, which is attributed to the suitable mass loading and special morphology of the as-prepared nanosheets. Remarkably, a specific capacitance of 2931.4 F g^-1 is still retained at the high current density of 30 A g^-1, suggesting its excellent rate capability. The specific capacitance retains 87.1% after 3000 cycles, reflecting excellent cycling performance. For real applications, a flexible symmetric supercapacitor is assembled based on CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets, which achieves a high energy density of 64.6 W h kg^-1 at 499.7 W kg^-1 and a maximum power density of 2081.5 W kg^-1 at 45.1 W h kg^-1. Besides serving as a free-standing electrode for non-enzymatic glucose sensors, CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets have remarkable electrocatalytic activity towards glucose oxidation with a high sensitivity of 3852.7 μA mM^-1 cm^-2 and an extraordinary linear range up to 3.67 mM. The experimental results suggest that CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets are more suitable for non-enzymatic glucose sensors than the related single/binary transition metal oxides/sulfides. Such a superior performance demonstrates that CuCo₂S₄ nanosheets hold great potential for use as flexible multifunctional electronic devices including supercapacitors and non-enzymatic glucose sensors.

3D Copper Foam-Supported CuCo₂O₄ Nanosheet Arrays as Electrode for Enhanced Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensing

CuCo₂O₄ anchored on Cu foam (CuCo₂O₄/CF) with polycrystalline features was fabricated by a mild process based on solvothermal reaction and subsequent calcination in this work. The structure and morphology of the obtained materials were thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. According to the above analysis, the morphology of the CuCo₂O₄ was nanosheet arrays. Meanwhile, the CuCo₂O₄ was grown on Cu foam successfully. The CuCo₂O₄/CF displayed good electrochemical properties for glucose detection at a linear range from 0 mM to 1.0 mM. Meanwhile, the detection limit was as low as 1 μM (S/N = 3), and the sensitivity was 20,981 μA·mM⁻¹·cm⁻². Moreover, the selectivity and the stability were tested with excellent results. This nanomaterial could show great potential application in electrochemical sensors.

Designed fabrication of three-dimensional δ-MnO2-cladded CuCo2O4 composites as an outstanding supercapacitor electrode material

Three-dimensional δ-MnO₂-cladded CuCo₂O₄ composites on Ni foam have been designed via a hydrothermal method followed by one-pot chelation-mediated aqueous processes.

Porous NiCo2O4 nanoarray-integrated binder-free 3D open electrode offers a highly efficient sensing platform for enzyme-free glucose detection

Porous binary metal oxide NiCo₂O₄ NWA/CC was prepared and utilized as a 3D binder-free open electrode for enzyme-free sensing with high performance.