Electrodeposition of flower-like nickel oxide on CVD-grown graphene to develop an electrochemical non-enzymatic biosensor.

We demonstrated a non-enzymatic cholesterol sensor based on a nickel oxide (NiO) and high quality graphene composite for the first time. Graphene was grown by a chemical vapor deposition technique (CVD). The nanocomposite was fabricated through the electrodeposition of nickel hydroxide onto the surface of the CVD-grown graphene, which was followed by thermal annealing. The successful formation of the NiO/graphene composite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The deposition of flower-like NiO onto the graphene surface was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical analyses were conducted to investigate the characteristics of the sensor during the detection of cholesterol. The sensor showed a high sensitivity of 40.6 mA μM-1 cm-2, a rapid response time of 5 s, and a low detection of limit of 0.13 μM. We also investigated the effects of common interfering substances on the ability of the sensor to detect cholesterol. Furthermore, we successfully determined the cholesterol in a milk sample using the developed sensor. The composite electrode exhibited excellent detection of cholesterol with good reproducibility and long-term stability owing to the combined effects of NiO and graphene.