Cobalt-copper bimetallic nanostructures prepared by glancing angle deposition for non-enzymatic voltammetric determination of glucose.

A bimetallic nanostructure of Co/Cu for the non-enzymatic determination of glucose is presented. The heterostructure includes cobalt thin film on a porous array of Cu nanocolumns. Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) method was used to grow Cu nanocolumns directly on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate. Then a thin film of cobalt was electrodeposited on the Cu nanostructures. Various characterization studies were performed in order to define the optimum nanostructure for the determination of glucose. The results showed remarkable boosting of the electrocatalytic activity of Co/Cu bimetallic structure compare to the responses achieved by the monometallic structures of Co or Cu. The sensor showed two linear response ranges for the determination of glucose at 0.55 V in 0.1 M NaOH, from 5 μM-1 mM and 2-9 mM. The sensitivity was 1741 (μA mM-1 cm-2) and 626 (μA mM-1 cm-2), respectively, while the detection limit for a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 was found to be 0.4 μM. The sensor exhibited excellent selectivity and was successfully applied to the determination of glucose in real human blood serum samples. Graphical Abstract Schematic representation of fabrication process of the glucose sensor of Co (Cobalt)/Cu (Copper) on Fluorine doped Tin Oxide (FTO). The current voltage plots show higher electrooxidation activity of the bimetallic nanostructure of Co/Cu/FTO relative to the bare Co/FTO.