Gold nanoparticles decorated zinc oxide nanorods as electrodes for a highly sensitive non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose detection

Abstract

The controlling and monitoring of blood glucose are very important for diabetes patients. We present highly sensitive non-enzymatic electrodes for glucose electrochemical detection based on gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) decorated zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NRs). We prepared ZnO seed layer on ITO/glass substrate and synthesis ZnO-NRs structure by hydrothermal growth technique. A label-free electrode for glucose detection was successfully accomplished by functionalizing Au-NPs on ZnO-NRs. By controlling the Au-NPs density along the ZnO-NRs, the electrode exhibit high sensitivity (157.34 μA cm-2 mM-1) with wide range (0.5-10 mM), low limit of detection (0.055 mM), with excellent stability and repeatability. Moreover, the interference effect of the other molecules such as ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) was investigated. Our results illustrate that the present electrode is suitable for glucose detection in human blood samples.