Polyaniline@CuNi nanocomposite: A highly selective, stable and efficient electrode material for binder free non-enzymatic glucose sensor

We present an efficient, highly selective and binder free non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on polyaniline@copper-nickel (PANI@CuNi) nanocomposite. PANI@CuNi nanocomposites with different loading ratio of nanoparticles (1: 025, 1: 0.33, 1: 05 and 1: 1) were prepared by mixing solution of PANI, synthesized through inverse emulsion polymerization method, and CuNi nanoparticles, synthesized through polyol process. The as prepared PANI@CuNi nanocomposites were coated on glassy carbon substrate without binder for non-enzymatic glucose sensing. A considerable increase in the active surface area of the electrode occurred after coating of this material. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry demonstrated that PANI@CuNi nanocomposite with 1: 0.5 ratio could be a good choice to be used as electrode material for non-enzymatic glucose sensing. The PANI@CuNi modified electrode exhibited high sensitivity (1030 μA mM−1 cm−2), good lower detection limit (0.2 μM) and a linear range of 5.6 mM (R2 = 0.992) with additional advantage of excellent selectivity, high stability and effective detection in real blood samples. •PANI@CuNi nanocomposite is highly efficient and selective towards glucose oxidation.•The material is electrochemically very active and stable and can offer a good choice as electrode material for binder free non-enzymatic glucose sensor.•The response of the PANI@CuNi nanocomposite coated electrode towards glucose is very rapid.•The PANI@CuNi modified electrode also possesses good lower detection limit (0.2 μM) and a linear range of 5.6 mM (R2 = 0.992) and effective detection in real blood samples.