A nano-Ni based ultrasensitive nonenzymatic electrochemical sensor for glucose: enhancing sensitivity through a nanowire array strategy.

Highly ordered Ni nanowire arrays (NiNWAs) were synthesized for the first time using a template-directed electropolymerization strategy with a nanopore polycarbonate (PC) membrane template, and their morphological characterization were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). A NiNWAs based electrode shows very high electrochemical activity for electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose in alkaline medium, which has been utilized as the basis of the fabrication of a nonenzymatic biosensor for electrochemical detection of glucose. The biosensor can be applied to the quantification of glucose with a linear range covering from 5.0x10(-7) to 7.0x10(-3) M, a high sensitivity of 1043 microA mM(-1) cm(-2), and a low detection limit of 1x10(-7) M. The experiment results also showed that the sensor exhibits good reproducibility and long-term stability, as well as high selectivity with no interference from other oxidable species.