Electrochemical nonenzymatic glucose sensors catalyzed by Au nanoclusters on metallic nanotube arrays and polypyrrole nanowires

Monitoring blood glucose level is critical, since its abnormality leads to diabetes and causes death, even though glucose is essential for human living. Herein, the sensing study was performed on electrochemical nonenzymatic glucose sensors, which are composed of an Au nanocluster (AuNC) catalyst deposited on a metallic nanotube array (MeNTA) and polypyrrole nanowire (PPyNW). The AuNC was produced by irradiating a femtosecond pulse laser to the Au precursor solution, and it is a simple and facile method. The successful deposition of AuNC on both MeNTA and PPyNW was confirmed by means of the surface morphology and the Au content increase. On the exploration by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline condition, AuNC/MeNTA electrodes showed better performance than AuNC/PPyNW electrodes: The former was a remarkable electrocatalytic detector towards glucose oxidation with better sensitivity, lower detection limit, wider linear range, and longer-term stability without interference from potential interfering agents such as ascorbic acid, urea, NaCl, KCl, etc. Moreover, nonenzymatic AuNC/MeNTA electrodes exhibited high precision and accuracy in real human blood samples and, thus, can be a promising candidate in glucose sensing applications.