Template synthesis of the Cu 2 O nanoparticle-doped hollow carbon nanofibres and their application as non-enzymatic glucose biosensors

Abstract

The cuprous oxide nanoparticle (Cu 2 O NP)-doped hollow carbon nanofibres (Cu 2 O/HCFs) were directly synthesized by the anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template. The doped Cu 2 O NPs were formed by in situ deposition by direct reduction reaction of precursor carbonization in thermal decomposition and could act as functionalized nanoparticles. The synthesized Cu 2 O/HCFs were characterized in detail by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results reveal that Cu 2 O/HCFs have a tubular structure with an average diameter of approximately 60 nm. The shape of the Cu 2 O/HCFs is straight and Cu 2 O NPs are uniformly distributed and highly dispersed in HCFs. Cu 2 O/HCFs have good dispersibility. The electrochemical activity of Cu 2 O/HCFs was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), the glucose sensors display high electrochemical activity towards the oxidation of glucose. Cu 2 O/HCFs can effectively accelerate the transmission of electrons on the electrode surface. Cu 2 O/HCFs are applied in the detection of glucose with a detection limit of 0.48 µM, a linear detection range from 7.99 to 33.33 µM and with a high sensitivity of 1218.3 µA cm −2 mM −1 . Moreover, the experimental results demonstrate that Cu 2 O/HCFs have good stability, reproducibility and selectivity. Our results suggest that Cu 2 O/HCFs could be a promising candidate for the construction of non-enzymatic sensor.