Porous Nickel Electrode for Highly Sensitive Non-Enzyme Electrochemical Glucose Detection

Abstract

Porous metals have great potential for applications in non-enzyme glucose detection because they have a high surface area and therefore improved the sensitivity of detection and the accuracy of measurement. An LCS/DHBT porous nickel with both macropores (710–1000 μm) and microscale pores (1–25 μm) has been produced by combining the Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) and Dynamic Hydrogen Bubble Template (DHBT) processes. Its behavior for glucose measurement has been studied by cyclic voltammetry and compared with a nickel plate and the LCS porous nickel substrate. The as-fabricated porous nickel has an electroactive surface area 18% higher than the LCS porous nickel. The anodic peak current density of the LCS/DHBT electrode in an electrolyte of 0.1 M KOH containing 0.5 mM glucose at scan rates in the range of 25–300 mV/s are in the range of 3.43–13.94 mA/cm2, which is approximately 2 and 10 times those of the plate and LCS electrodes. Increasing the scan rate results in a higher current density and a larger anodic peak potential shift. Current density increases with glucose concentration in several linear segments. The sensitivity and limit of detection of LCS/DHBT nickel electrode in the glucose measurement are 5775 μA/cm2mM and 0.66–2.91 μΜ, respectively. It shows excellent performance for glucose measurement due to its porous nanostructure and its highly effective surface area.