Investigation of glucose oxidation at gold nanoparticles deposited at carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode by theoretical and experimental methods

Abstract

In the current research work, AuNPs-CNTs nanocomposite was synthesized chemically and decoration of AuNPs on the surface of MWCNTs was confirmed by UV-Vis, SEM and XPS analysis. Synthesized nanocomposite was utilized for its application towards non-enzymatic glucose sensing by modifying glassy carbon electrode with nanocomposite employing electrochemical techniques. In addition, theoretical calculations were performed by Density Functional Theory (DFT), employing B3YLP with basis set 6- 311+G(d,p) in gaseous phase and LANL2DZ basis set. Both theoretical and experimental results predicted Au-CNTs composite as a better candidate for glucose oxidation as compared to CNTs and AuNPs alone, owing to the synergistic effect of CNTs and AuNPs. This preliminary study for predicting possibility of glucose oxidation by different nano hybrids is not reported earlier. This study can find its applications in glucose biosensor and food industry.