Investigations on copper–titanate intercalation materials for amperometric sensor

Copper-based titanate intercalation electrode materials (referred as Cu–TO) were achieved by electrochemical reduction of the intercalated cupric ions that were ion exchanged on the layer structured titanate films by using n-propylamine as an exfoliating agent. The copper-based titanate intercalation electrode materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), electrochemical techniques and inductive coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). These copper-based titanate materials were exploited to fabricate the enzymeless glucose sensors, and their assay performances to glucose were evaluated by conventional electrochemical techniques. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (I–t) revealed a high sensitivity, fast response, excellent stability, and good reproducibility in the glucose determination at +0.55V. Under optimal conditions, the electrocatalytic response of the sensor was proportional to the glucose concentration in the range of 2.5×10−7M to 8.0×10−3M with a detection limit of 5.0×10−8M (signal-to-noise=3). Moreover, the intercalated copper electrode materials exhibited high stability and improved selectivity for glucose compared with the more apparently accessible copper. This work also provides a simply controlled test-bed for electrochemical functionalization of layered titanate for sensor applications.