Synthesis and characterization of a high-performance enzyme-free glucose sensor based on mesoporous copper oxide nanoparticles

Mesoporous copper oxide were prepared and characterized as a non-enzymatic glucose sensor. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and surface adsorption analysis were used to analyze the samples. Considering the normal glucose levels, the CV measurements were conducted for glucose concentrations ranging from 1 to 9 mM. Accordingly, nanoparticles with particle sizes less than 100 nm showed a desired linear response for glucose detection in the 1 to 9 mM concentration range. Also, it exhibited a reasonable detection limit of 0.05 μM and a high sensitivity of 733 μAmM−1cm−2 in the alkaline pH range. Furthermore, a relatively good sensitivity for glucose detection in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) was also observed. The optimum detection performance could be attributed to the improvement of the particles size, morphology and pore structure. It was concluded that mesoporous copper oxide nanoparticles have desirable potential functionalities for enzyme-free glucose detection.