Controllable morphology engineering of Cu2O nanoparticles for non-enzymatic glucose sensing

The controllable morphology engineering of active electrode materials is an effective strategy to obtain high performance non-enzymatic glucose sensing. Herein, different morphologic cuprous oxide (Cu2O nanospheres, nanocubes and microcubes) were controllably prepared by wet-chemistry precipitation technique through adjusting the OH– concentration. The growth and evolution mechanism of Cu2O at different OH– concentrations were extensively studied. Electrochemical testing revealed that Cu2O nanospheres had the highest sensitivity of 1438 μA mM−1 cm−2 and the lowest detection limit of 0.17 μM (S/N = 3), making them the best choice for glucose sensing. Additionally, the glucose detection range spanned two orders of concentration magnitude (0.5 μM ∼ 1.332 mM and 1.332 mM ∼ 3.832 mM), and the sensor displayed excellent anti-interference ability, reproducibility, and long-term stability. The electrode material also performed well in detecting glucose in real serum samples, indicating its practical applicability as a non-enzymatic sensor.